ENR's 20-city average union wage, including fringe benefits, for 19 skilled crafts is up 3.8% over a year ago. This is down slightly from the 4% annual increase won by this group of workers last year. Building laborers saw a 4.1% increase this year, compared to a 4.5% hike in 2001.
Wages increases for nonunion workers are also being reeled in this year, according to a survey conducted by Personnel Administration Services, Saline, Mich. The construction industry's largest open-shop wage survey shows that 1,300 nonunion contractors expect to see wage increases average 4.2% this year for their 94,351 craft workers. This will be down from a 4.8% wage increase given last year and a 5.3% hike in 2000. "Everybody is being pretty conservative," says Jeff Robinson, PAS president.