• While overall employment in the State of Oklahoma increased 6.92% between 1997 and 2002, employment within the construction industry rose by 23.99%, creating 12,128 new construction jobs as well as creating 1,046 new construction establishments in 5 years.

• While the average worker in Oklahoma brought home $28,071 in pay in 2002, the state’s construction workers made on average $29,295, an increase of 4.18% more than the average worker in Oklahoma. 

• Construction workers in Oklahoma saw a salary increase of 17.88% from 1997-2002, compared to the average salary increase construction workers across the United States, which increased by 14.97%. 

• The number of businesses in Oklahoma grew from 66,272 in 1997 to 67,454 in 2002, an increase of 1.78%.  Construction establishments in Oklahoma however, increased by 15.49% from 6,751 in 1997 to 7,797 in 2002.

• Of the 1,182 new businesses established between 1997 and 2002 in Oklahoma, 1,046 or 88.49% of those establishments were in the construction industry.

• According to Union Membership and Coverage Database, available at www.unionstats.com, in 2006, only 4.1 percent of Oklahoma’s private construction workforce belonged to a construction trade union.  That means that approximately 96 out of 100 Oklahoma’s private construction workers do not belong to a labor union.

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

• Oklahoma does not have a state prevailing wage law.