While craft workers remain in short supply in most of the U.S., wage hikes are steady but not skyrocketing, based on recent industry-wide surveys. Even so, firms working in some regions and urban hot spots are finding the competition for skilled trades pushing pay rates up and up.

About 70% of firms queried by the Associated General Contractors are having trouble finding qualified craft workers. That result, released in August, remained almost flat from what AGC’s 2016 report showed and was down from 2015, when 86% of respondents reported difficulties.