ARLINGTON, VA. — The Associated General Contractors of America has reported the U.S. construction sector added 17,000 employees in December and continued to raise wages at a faster clip than other industries.
The Jan. 5 report came from an analysis of government data. The association officials said the survey it released recently found contractors expect to hire more employees in 2024 but are struggling to find enough qualified workers.
“The above-average wages that the construction industry pays have helped contractors add workers,” said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist, in a statement. “More than two-thirds of firms in our survey say they plan to expand in 2024 but they expect it will be as hard or harder to do than it was in 2023.”
Construction employment in December totalled 8,056,000, seasonally adjusted, an increase of 17,000 from November. The sector has added 197,000 jobs during the past 12 months. That was a gain of 2.5 per cent, which outpaced the 1.7 per cent job growth in the overall economy.
Residential building and specialty trade contractors added 5,500 employees in December and 40,100 (1.2 per cent) over 12 months. Employment at nonresidential construction firms — nonresidential building and specialty trade contractors along with heavy and civil engineering construction firms — climbed by 11,900 positions for the month and 157,300 (3.4 per cent) since December 2022.
Average hourly earnings for production and nonsupervisory employees in construction, covering most onsite craft workers as well as many office workers, climbed by 5.1 per cent over the year to $34.92 per hour. Construction firms in December provided a wage premium of nearly 19 per cent compared to the average hourly earnings for all private-sector production employees.
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