Contractors have more work than they have people to do the work. This has led to a desperate struggle by contractors to find and retain qualified managers, ratcheting up the pressure on salaries to unprecedented levels.

Contractors anticipate giving average  salary increases of 3.97% in 2006, according to a survey by PAS Inc., a Saline, Mich.-based construction compensation consulting firm. “But we generally see actual increases go up at least a half percent by the end of the year,” says Jeffrey M. Robinson, president of PAS.