Labor Trafficking in Construction During the Recovery and Reconstruction from a Natural Disaster

As part of the Human Trafficking Policy and Research Analyses Project, funded by the Administration for Children and Families’ Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation and the Office on Trafficking in Persons, RTI International measured the prevalence of labor trafficking among construction workers in Houston, Texas. The overarching goal of this project was to advance knowledge of promising methods for estimating human trafficking prevalence in the United States by field testing at least two methods of prevalence estimation within one industry in one geographic location. In addition to advancing knowledge of promising methods for estimating prevalence, this project also sought to explore substantive issues around the labor trafficking of construction workers, including the nature of the exploitation as well as the extent to which exploitation occurs in the recovery and reconstruction efforts following a natural disaster.

This brief provides a description of the relationship between working in construction after a natural disaster and the prevalence of labor trafficking.

• The prevalence of labor trafficking among individuals who worked in the recovery and reconstruction of a natural disaster was two times higher than those who did not.
• Rates of exploitation involving recruitment and employment practices and penalties were significantly higher among individuals who worked in the recovery and reconstruction of a natural disaster than those who did not.
• Individuals who worked in construction post-disaster were nearly twice as likely to have been made to complete hazardous work without proper protective gear than those who did not work post-disaster (relationship statistically significant).
• Although rates of violence were low, more than twice as many respondents who worked in the recovery and reconstruction from a natural disaster experienced emotional or psychological abuse and threats of multiple forms of violence than those who had not worked post-disaster (relationships statistically significant).

The results presented in this brief are based on surveys with 903 construction workers in Houston, Texas. Participants were recruited using time-location-sampling.

Barrick, K. & Pfeffer, R. (2024). Labor Trafficking in Construction During the Recovery and Reconstruction from a Natural Disaster. OPRE Report # 2024-253, Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.