• While overall employment in the State of South Carolina increased 4.48% between 1997 and 2002, employment within the construction industry rose by 28.56%, creating 24,618 new construction jobs as well as 911 new construction establishments in 5 years.

• While the average worker in South Carolina brought home $28,428 in pay in 2002, the state’s construction workers made on average $30,661, an increase of 7.28% more than the average worker in South Carolina. 

• In the five years between 1997 and 2002, the average salary for employees in South Carolina increased by 20.55%, while the average salary for construction workers in South Carolina increased by 25.04%. 

• Construction workers in South Carolina saw a salary increase of 25.04% 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 South Carolina grew from 71,547 in 1997 to 75,387 in 2002, an increase of 5.37%.  Construction establishments in South Carolina however, increased by 8.73% from 10,430 in 1997 to 11,341 in 2002.

• Of the 3,840 new businesses established between 1997 and 2002 in South Carolina, 911 or 23.72% of those establishments were in the construction industry.

• According to Union Membership and Coverage Database, available at www.unionstats.com, in 2006, only 2.7 percent of South Carolina’s private construction workforce belonged to a construction trade union.  That means that approximately 98 out of 100 South Carolina’s private construction workers do not belong to a labor union.

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

• South Carolina does not have a state prevailing wage law.