• While overall employment in the State of South Dakota increased 5.82% between 1997 and 2002, employment within the construction industry rose by 31.42%, creating 4,552 new construction jobs as well as creating 428 new construction establishments in 5 years.

• While the average worker in South Dakota brought home $24,902 in pay in 2002, the state’s construction workers made on average $28,049, an increase of 11.22% more than the average worker in South Dakota. 

• The number of businesses in South Dakota grew from 19,093 in 1997 to 20,168 in 2002, an increase of 5.63%.  Construction establishments in South Dakota however, increased by 17.70% from 2,418 in 1997 to 2,846 in 2002.

• Of the 1,075 new businesses established between 1997 and 2002 in South Dakota, 428 or 39.81% of those establishments were in the construction industry.

• According to Union Membership and Coverage Database, available at www.unionstats.com, in 2006, only 1.7 percent of South Dakota’s private construction workforce belonged to a construction trade union.  That means that approximately 99 out of 100 South Dakota’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 Dakota does not have a state prevailing wage law.