After years of steady increases, wages for many craftworkers have jumped recently, pushed up by the pressures of a hot economy, high inflation and labor shortages. Union settlements, in particular, have seen an atypical uptick, while open shop wages appear to be reaching a high point.
Among construction union settlements, first year increases rose 0.8% from second quarter 2021 to Q2 this year, reaching an average of 3.6% across all crafts, according to data from Construction Labor Research Council’s settlements report for the second quarter. That rise signifies a notable increase, given that average union settlements increased by just 0.1% to 0.2% annually for nearly a decade following the downturn of 2008.