Labor: Wage Hikes Largest in a Decade

摘要

It may have taken until the tail end of a 10-year economic expansion, but construction workers finally appear to have broken the mold that held annual wage hikes around 3% for years. In September, ENR's 20-city average union wage, including fringe benefits, for skilled construction workers is up 4.9% above a year ago. ENR's wage for laborers is up 4.5% for the year. These are the largest annual increases recorded in over a decade. Not only does it appear to be a breakthrough year for labor, but workers are locking into these higher wages with longer term contracts. "There are more agreements that are three years or longer than I can ever remember seeing," says Robert M. Gasperow, executive director of Washington, D.C.-based Construction Labor Research Council, which tracks construction union wages nationwide. "Close to 90% of all agreements are mul-tiyear and a greater portion of workers are being covered by these multiyear agreements," says Gasperow. The most common length of the new agreements is three years, he notes.