Pay Trends in Construction - June

A new analysis by AGC of Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data on average hourly earnings (payroll divided by employee hours) in construction (www.bls.gov/ces) shows a dramatic slowdown for most subsectors since 2008. Average pay for all employees in the industry increased 4.0% in 2007, 4.8% in 2008, 1.9% in 2009 and only 1.1% in the 12 months ending in June. For production and nonsupervisory employees (roughly equivalent to craft workers), the increases were 4.2% in 2007, 5.4% in 2008, 2.1% in 2009 and 2.3% in the latest 12 months, showing that these workers received slightly larger pay increases on average each period than other employees. Pay increases slowed much more in some subsectors than others. For instance, craft workers at masonry contracting firms had an 11.6% average pay increase in 2008 but a drop of 0.4% in the latest 12 months; at roofing contractors, average increases slowed only from 3.5% in 2008 to 1.4% in the latest 12 months. Pay for all employees in June averaged $23.03, not seasonally adjusted, for the entire industry and ranged from $19.81 for painting and wall covering contractors to $29.63 for new-multifamily general contractors.