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Industries at a Glance
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Construction: NAICS 23
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About the Construction sector
The construction sector is part of the goods-producing industries supersector group.
The construction sector comprises establishments primarily engaged in the construction of buildings or engineering projects (e.g., highways and utility systems). Establishments primarily engaged in the preparation of sites for new construction and establishments primarily engaged in subdividing land for sale as building sites also are included in this sector.
Construction work done may include new work, additions, alterations, or maintenance and repairs. Activities of these establishments generally are managed at a fixed place of business, but they usually perform construction activities at multiple project sites. Production responsibilities for establishments in this sector are usually specified in (1) contracts with the owners of construction projects (prime contracts) or (2) contracts with other construction establishments (subcontracts).
North American Industry Classification System
The construction sector consists of these subsectors:
- Construction of Buildings: NAICS 236
- Heavy and Civil Engineering Construction: NAICS 237
- Specialty Trade Contractors: NAICS 238
Workforce Statistics
This section provides information relating to employment and unemployment in construction. While most data are obtained from employer or establishment surveys, information on industry unemployment comes from a national survey of households. The following tables present an overview of the industry including the number of jobs, the unemployment rate of those previously employed in the industry, job openings and labor turnover, union membership and representation, gross job gains and losses, data for occupations common to the industry, and projections of occupational employment change.
Employment, Unemployment, and Openings, Hires, and Separations
| Data series | Back data |
Jul. 2023 |
Aug. 2023 |
Sep. 2023 |
Oct. 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Employment (in thousands) |
|||||
Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted) |
|
7,967 | 7,997 | (p)8,010 | (p)8,033 |
Employment, production and nonsupervisory employees (seasonally adjusted) |
|
5,850 | 5,872 | (p)5,872 | (p)5,877 |
Unemployment |
|||||
|
|
3.9% | 3.9% | 3.8% | 4.0% | |
Job openings, hires, and separations (in thousands) |
|||||
|
|
374 | 384 | (p)438 | ||
|
|
431 | 382 | (p)294 | ||
|
|
398 | 391 | (p)298 | ||
|
Footnotes |
|||||
(Source: Current Employment Statistics, Current Population Survey, Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey)
Union Membership and Representation
| Data series | Back data |
2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Union membership and representation |
|||||
Members of unions (percent of wage and salary workers) |
|
12.6% | 12.7% | 12.6% | 11.7% |
Represented by unions (percent of wage and salary workers) |
|
13.6% | 13.4% | 13.6% | 12.4% |
(Source: Current Population Survey)
Dynamic Changes in Employment
| Data series | Back data |
2nd quarter 2022 |
3rd quarter 2022 |
4th quarter 2022 |
1st quarter 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dynamic changes in employment (in thousands) |
|||||
|
|
653 | 655 | 667 | 706 | |
|
|
642 | 626 | 630 | 580 | |
(Source: Business Employment Dynamics)
Employment by Occupation
| Data series | Employment, 2022 |
|---|---|
| 589,150 | |
| 847,050 | |
| 243,980 | |
| 536,350 | |
Operating engineers and other construction equipment operators |
266,170 |
(Source: Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics)
Projections
For projected (future) employment estimates, see the National Employment Matrix, which includes employment estimates by industry and occupation for construction.
(Source: Office of Occupational Statistics and Employment Projections)
Earnings and Hours
This section presents data on employee earnings and weekly hours. The latest industry averages of hourly earnings and weekly hours, as well as weekly earnings by union membership status, are shown. In addition, recent hourly and annual earnings are shown for occupations commonly found in construction. This section also contains information on the average cost of benefits paid by employers, as well as recent rates of change in wages and total compensation.
Earnings and Hours of All Employees
| Data series | Back data |
Jul. 2023 |
Aug. 2023 |
Sep. 2023 |
Oct. 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
$36.66 | $36.75 | (p)$36.83 | (p)$37.00 | |
|
|
38.9 | 39.1 | (p)39.1 | (p)39.1 | |
|
Footnotes |
|||||
(Source: Current Employment Statistics)
Earnings and Hours of Production and Nonsupervisory Employees
| Data series | Back data |
Jul. 2023 |
Aug. 2023 |
Sep. 2023 |
Oct. 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
$34.22 | $34.45 | (p)$34.51 | (p)$34.64 | |
|
|
39.5 | 39.7 | (p)39.7 | (p)39.8 | |
|
Footnotes |
|||||
(Source: Current Employment Statistics)
Earnings by Occupation
| Data series | Wages, 2022 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hourly | Annual | |||
| Median | Mean | Median | Mean | |
| $25.19 | $28.40 | $52,400 | $59,070 | |
| $20.66 | $22.77 | $42,970 | $47,350 | |
| $48.31 | $52.96 | $100,480 | $110,160 | |
| $28.51 | $31.14 | $59,300 | $64,760 | |
Operating engineers and other construction equipment operators |
$27.69 | $30.55 | $57,600 | $63,530 |
(Source: Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics)
Employee Benefits
This section presents data on the incidence (the percentage of workers with access to and participation in employer-provided benefit plans) and provisions of selected employee benefits from the National Compensation Survey. More Benefits estimates are also accessible from the Benefits database, the archived NCS publications page, and the complete Employee Benefits Excel dataset (XLSX).
| Data series | Access | Participation | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Back data |
2023 | Back data |
2023 | |
Private industry |
||||
|
|
67 |
|
50 | |
|
|
14 |
|
14 | |
|
|
60 |
|
42 | |
(Source: Employee Benefits in the United States)
| Data series | After 1 year of service | After 20 years of service | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Back data |
2023 | Back data |
2023 | |
Mean number of vacation days for private industry workers without consolidated leave plans |
|
7 |
|
13 |
(Source: Employee Benefits in the United States)
| Data series | Back data |
2023 |
|---|---|---|
Percent of private industry workers with access to employer-sponsored benefits |
||
|
|
76 | |
|
|
81 | |
|
|
68 | |
(Source: Employee Benefits in the United States)
Employer Compensation Costs
| Data series | Back data |
4th quarter 2022 |
1st quarter 2023 |
2nd quarter 2023 |
3rd quarter 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Private industry |
|||||
12-month percent change |
|||||
|
|
4.3% | 4.9% | 4.1% | 4.1% | |
|
|
4.8% | 5.7% | 4.6% | 4.5% | |
3-month percent change |
|||||
|
|
0.8% | 1.3% | 1.2% | 0.8% | |
|
|
1.1% | 1.3% | 1.3% | 0.7% | |
(Source: Compensation Cost Trends)
| Data series | Private industry | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Compensation component ($ per hour worked) |
Percent of total compensation | |||
| Back data |
2nd quarter 2023 | Back data |
2nd quarter 2023 | |
|
|
44.75 |
|
100.0 | |
|
|
31.37 |
|
70.1 | |
|
|
13.38 |
|
29.9 | |
|
|
3.29 |
|
7.4 | |
|
|
2.30 |
|
5.1 | |
|
|
2.09 |
|
4.7 | |
(Source: Compensation Cost Trends)
Union Membership and Representation
| Data series | Back data |
Median weekly earnings | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | ||
Union membership and representation |
|||||
|
|
$909 | $961 | $966 | $1,007 | |
|
|
$1,257 | $1,254 | $1,344 | $1,319 | |
|
|
$1,240 | $1,234 | $1,322 | $1,306 | |
|
|
$868 | $920 | $922 | $976 | |
(Source: Current Population Survey)
Work-related Fatalities, Injuries, and Illnesses
This section presents data for the industry on the number of workplace fatalities and the rates of workplace injuries and illnesses per 100 full-time workers in construction. An injury or illness is considered to be work-related if an event or exposure in the work environment either caused or contributed to the resulting condition or significantly aggravated a pre-existing condition.
| Data series | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Fatalities |
||||
| 1,038 | 1,102 | 1,034 | 1,015 | |
|
Blank cells indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria. |
||||
| Data series | 2022 |
|---|---|
Rate of injury and illness cases per 100 full-time workers |
|
| 2.4 | |
Cases involving days away from work, job restriction, or transfer |
1.5 |
| 1.0 | |
| 0.5 | |
|
Blank cells indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria. |
|
(Source: Injuries, Illnesses, and Fatalities)
Workplace Trends
This section presents data on the number of establishments and the number of establishments experiencing job gains or job losses in construction.
Establishments
| Data series | Back data |
2nd quarter 2022 |
3rd quarter 2022 |
4th quarter 2022 |
1st quarter 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Number of establishments |
|||||
|
|
899,107 | 909,649 | 916,550 | (p)918,739 | |
|
|
4,280 | 4,281 | 4,282 | (p)4,279 | |
|
|
1,748 | 1,753 | 1,779 | (p)1,820 | |
|
|
1 | 1 | 1 | (p)1 | |
Establishments with changes in employment (in thousands) |
|||||
With job gains (seasonally adjusted) |
|
197 | 200 | 206 | 214 |
With job losses (seasonally adjusted) |
|
212 | 202 | 198 | 189 |
|
Footnotes |
|||||
(Source: Business Employment Dynamics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages)
Data extracted on: November 21, 2023