So it makes sense for the candidates to focus on these jobs. Not only are there a lot of them, they offer competitive wages (especially at the lower end of the scale). They often come with on-the-job training, require less formal education and have lower barriers to entry. They boast strong benefits (health care and pensions) and there is little to no seasonal variation (so little sensitivity to “boom and bust” cycles). Many employees stay in the industry and with the same employer for their whole career. And they come with the added bonus of being difficult to outsource overseas.

However, while jobs in transportation are available at all levels of education, narrow training and pipeline channels tend to divert prospective transportation workers away from the sector. Women, for example, make-up 47 percent of the American workforce but continue to be highly underrepresented throughout the transportation industry. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, women comprise only 15 percent of transportation and material moving occupations, and only 5.8 percent of commercial truck drivers are women. The public transit (35 percent) and aviation (34 percent) sectors have relatively higher shares of women employees, yet still significantly lower than national average

There are also stark race and ethnic divisions. For the transportation construction industry alone, African-Americans comprised only 6 percent and women comprised less than 3 percent. By contrast, Latinos have a strong presence in the sector, though they are highlight concentrated in jobs that pay below the median wage.