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To calculate the numbers of working families who participated in safety net programs, we restrict the <br />sample to those who work 27 or more weeks per year and 10 or more hours per week in all industries. <br />We exclude workers who live in institutional group quarters. To identify construction workers, we <br />further use the 1990 Census Bureau industrial code All Construction (60), and the 2010 Census Bureau <br />occupation codes from First -Line Supervisors of Construction Trades and Extraction Workers (6200) <br />to Construction Workers, n.e.c. (6765), and we include W2 workers and the not -incorporated self- <br />employed but exclude the incorporated self-employed. <br />Results <br />Table 1 shows the annual enrollment in safety net programs of construction workers and their families <br />between 2015 and 2019. We estimate that 39% of construction working families are enrolled in at least <br />one program, significantly more than the 31% of all working families. Construction working families <br />have higher enrollment than all working families in every program except TANF, where both groups <br />have a low enrollment of 1%. <br />Nationwide, construction working families are overall 26% more likely than all working families <br />to participate in one or more means -tested safety net program. These families are 36% more <br />likely to be enrolled in Children's Medicaid and 38% more likely to be enrolled in EITC. <br />Table 1. Annual Enrollment in Safety Net Programs for Working Families, <br />United States, 2015-2019 <br />Program <br />Number of Construction Share of Share of <br />Working Families Construction Working ALL Working <br />Enrolled Families Enrolled Families Enrolled <br />Adult Medicaid 1,321,000 17% 15% <br />Children's Medicaid/CHIP 1,218,000 15% 11% <br />EITC 2,288,000 29% 21% <br />TANF 61,000 1% 1% <br />SNAP 1,173,000 15% 12% <br />Any program 3,087,000 39% 31% <br />Source: Authors' calculations based on the 2015-2019 American Community Survey, 2016-2020 March Current <br />Population Survey, 2019 Occupational Employment Statistics, and administrative data from Medicaid, CHIP, EITC, <br />SNAP, and TANF programs. <br />Note: The analysis is restricted to workers who work at least 27 weeks in a year and 10 or more hours per week. <br />The Public Cost of Low -Wage Jobs in the US Construction Industry 4 <br />