Of the 5.6 million employer-firms in the United States, more than 12 percent are construction firms, and these companies employ 5.6 percent of the U.S. private workforce.³ In addition to the 6.3 million employed construction workers, another 2 million people are self-employed in construction.⁴ A vast majority of construction workers—86.9 percent—do not belong to a union.⁵ That means that union-only project labor agreements discriminate against 86.9% of America’s construction workforce.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, construction created 1.8 million new jobs over a decade between 1994 and 2004, and employment trends are expected to continue if at a slower pace. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that another 792,000 new construction jobs will be created between 2004 and 2014.⁶

The BLS also estimates that construction and extraction occupations will have a net replacement rate of 19.9 in the same time period where new workers must be brought into the construction occupations.⁷ This demand is in addition to the stress of turnover where employees are changing jobs but remain in the same occupation. In construction, worker turnover can vary between 6.9 percent and 4.2 percent a month, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.⁸ This turnover is driven by the industry growth, where skilled workers are drawn to better paying jobs as demand grows, and the very dynamic nature of the industry where projects are temporary and workforce needs change for a particular time and place.

Here are some interesting facts from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Career Guide to Industries, 2006-07 Edition

• Nine-tenths of establishments in construction employ fewer than twenty workers.
  Almost 2 out of 3 establishments in the construction industry employ fewer than 5 people.
• Almost 2 out of 3 wage and salary jobs in construction were with specialty trade contractors; primarily plumbing, heating, and air conditioning; electrical; and masonry contractors.
• Around 1 out of 4 jobs were with building contractors, mostly in residential and nonresidential construction. The rest were with heavy and civil engineering construction contractors.
• There were about 818,000 construction establishments in the United States in 2004: 247,000 were building construction contractors; 57,000 were heavy and civil engineering construction or highway contractors; and 514,000 were specialty trade contractors.
• About 1 out of 9 construction workers are employed by small contractors.
  Employment is expected to grow faster in nonresidential construction over the decade.
• Earnings in construction are higher than the average for all industries. In 2004, production or nonsupervisory workers in construction averaged $19.23 an hour, or about $736 a week. In general, the higher skilled trades workers, such as electricians and plumbers, get paid more than less skilled trades workers, laborers, and helpers.

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Career Guide to Industries, 2006-07 Edition, Construction, on the Internet at http://www.bls.gov/oco/cg/cgs003.htm (visited February 23, 2006).

References

¹As of November 2005, the construction put in place value was 1,146,370,000,000. http://www.census.gov/const/www/c30index.html

² In 1995, the value was $557,818,000,000. See “Annual Value of Construction Put in Place” U.S. Census Bureau. http://www.census.gov/const/C30/total.pdf

³Major Industries by NAICs Codes: Private Employer Firms, Establishments, Employment, and Annual Payroll by Firm Size, 1998-2001, U.S. Small Business Administration based on data provided by U.S. Census Bureau, Statistics of U.S. Businesses. http://www.sba.gov/advo/research/us_tot_mi_n.pdf

⁴“2002 Economic Census Advanced Nonemployer Statistics, Table 1 Summary and Legal Form of Organization for the United States” U.S. Census Bureau. http://www.census.gov/epcd/nonemployer/2002adv/us/US000.HTM

⁵Unions represent 13.1 percent of those employed in construction. “Table 3.Union affiliation of employed wage and salary workers by occupation and industry” U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. (Jan. 20, 2006) http://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.t03.htm

⁶Construction is expected to add 792,000 new jobs between 2004 and 2014. “Employment by major industry division, 1994, 2004, and projected 2014” U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Office of Occupational Statistics and Employment Projections. http://www.bls.gov/emp/empmajorindustry.pdf

⁷Occupational Projections and Training Data, 2004-05 Edition, U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. http://www.bls.gov/emp/optd/home.htm Net replacement rate for construction is specifically referenced on page 179. Note that individuals who change jobs but remain in the same occupation –often referred to as turnover – are not included in the count of net replacements (see page 161). http://www.bls.gov/emp/optd/optd005.pdf

⁸Source U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey. Obtain data from 2001 to 2005 by selection “Total separations rate, construction JTS230000000TSR” on http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/surveymost?jt

On February 17, 2001, President George W. Bush signed Executive Order No. 13202, "Preservation of Open Competition and Government Neutrality Towards Government Contractors' Labor Relations on Federal and Federally Funded Construction Projects." This Executive Order puts an end to government-mandated project labor agreements on federal construction projects, as well as federally-funded or assisted projects, and establishes government labor neutrality.

For more information on Executive Order No. 13202, please click here.

Currently, there are no federal statutes requiring or prohibiting project labor agreements on federal construction projects, as well as federally-funded or assisted projects.

In the 109th Congress, Representative John Sullivan (R-OK) introduced the “Government Neutrality in Contracting Act,” (H.R. 1449) on March 17, 2005. This legislation intends to codify the language of the Bush Executive Order into law and would apply to all contracts awarded after the date of enactment of the law. Currently H.R. 1449 is in the House Committee on Government Reform.

Representative Sam Johnson (R-TX) introduced "The Government Labor Neutrality Act of 2005," (H.R. 1248) on March 10, 2005. This bill would amend the National Labor Relations Act to prevent government agencies from requiring or prohibiting employers in the construction industry to enter into agreements with labor organizations. This bill has not moved since it was referred from the House Education and Workforce Committee to the Subcommittee on Employer-Employee Relations on April 18, 2005.