Residential building workers' wages increased in March but at a slower pace than previous, says Bureau of Labor Statistics report; ongoing skilled labor shortage continues to impact construction sector despite strong demand

In March, residential building workers’ wages continued to grow but at a relatively slower pace. After an acceleration of a 6.2% increase in the previous month, the year-over-year (YOY) growth rate for residential building worker wages slowed to 5.1% in March.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report, average hourly earnings (AHE) for residential building workers* was $31.29 per hour in March. It increased 5.1% from $29.77 per hour a year ago but was lower than $31.41 per hour in February. In March, residential building workers’ wages were 14.0% higher than the manufacturing’s average hourly earnings of $27.45 per hour, 7.7% higher than transportation and warehousing ($29.04 per hour), and 13.7% lower than mining and logging ($36.25 per hour).

The ongoing skilled labor shortage continues to challenge the construction sector. Although the number of open construction jobs posted a surprising decline in March, demand for construction labor remained strong. This number may be revised higher in the next report, and we will keep monitoring closely for the following one- or two-months’ data.

Note: *Data used in this post relate to production and nonsupervisory workers in the residential building industry. This group accounts for approximately two-thirds of the total employment of the residential building industry.