• While overall employment in the State of Missouri increased 5.21% between 1997 and 2002, employment within the construction industry rose by 17.87%, creating 23,335 new construction jobs as well as creating 430 new construction establishments in 5 years.

• While the average worker in Missouri brought home $31,903 in pay in 2002, the state’s construction workers made on average $36,874, an increase of 13.48% more than the average worker in Missouri. 

• Construction employees in Missouri made $36,874 on average in 2002, compared to $35,352, the national average salary in 2002 for construction workers across the United States.

• In the five years between 1997 and 2002, the average salary for employees in Missouri increased by 20.88%, while the average salary for construction workers in Missouri increased by 21.02%. 

• Construction workers in Missouri saw a salary increase of 21.02% from 1997-2002, compared to the average salary increase construction workers across the United States, which increased by 14.97%.

• According to Union Membership and Coverage Database, available at www.unionstats.com, in 2005, only 23.9% of the private construction workforce in Missouri belonged to a construction trade union. 

• Of the 3,345 new businesses established between 1997 and 2002 in Missouri, 430 or 12.86% of those establishments were in the construction industry.

• According to Union Membership and Coverage Database, available at www.unionstats.com, in 2006, only 30.6 percent of Missouri’s private construction workforce belonged to a construction trade union.  That means that approximately 70 out of 100 Missouri’s private construction workers do not belong to a labor union.

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

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