• While overall employment in the State of Illinois increased 2.06% between 1997 and 2002, employment within the construction industry rose by 28.86%, creating 69,294 new construction jobs as well as 2,603 new construction establishments in 5 years.

• According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there were 240,092 individuals employed in the construction industry in Illinois in 1997 and 309,386 in 2002, an increase of 28.86% in 5 years. 

• While the average worker in Illinois brought home $37,096 in pay in 2002, the state’s construction workers made on average $41,626, an increase of 10.88% more than the average worker in Illinois. 

• Construction employees in Illinois made $41,626 on average in 2002, compared to $35,352, the national average salary in 2002 for construction workers across the United States.

• The number of businesses in Illinois grew from 240,024 in 1997 to 244,407 in 2002, an increase of 1.83%.  Construction establishments in Illinois however, increased by 9.31% from 27,953 in 1997 to 30,556 in 2002.

• Of the 4,383 new businesses established between 1997 and 2002 in Illinois, 2,603 or 59.39% of those establishments were in the construction industry.

• According to Union Membership and Coverage Database, available at www.unionstats.com, in 2006, only 40.2 percent of Illinois’s private construction workforce belonged to a construction trade union.  That means that approximately 60 out of 100 Illinois’s private construction workers do not belong to a labor union.

Data are from the U.S. Bureau of the Census except where noted.

• Illinois. There is no dollar threshold amount for contract coverage under state prevailing wage law in Illinois.