Construction executives continue to make strong annual gains in compensation, particularly those willing to sign on with new employers. On average, executive base salaries rose by 4.2% in 2019, says data from compensation specialist Personnel Administration Services Inc. Although that level is relatively high compared to historical PAS data, the rate of increase has remained steady in recent years. Last year’s hike marked the third year in a row of base salary escalation above 4%. Since 2013, annual base salary hikes have not tallied below 3.8%.
“Historically speaking, that’s a long period to see those types of increases,” says Jeff Robinson, PAS president. “But at some point, you reach a level where there’s not much room to go higher. Personally, I’m surprised it hasn’t gone higher, but it could just be that contractors are being conservative.”