Construction: NAICS 23

About the Construction sector

The construction sector is part of the goods-producing industries supersector group.

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	Jan. 2021	Feb. 2021	Mar. 2021	Apr. 2021
Employment (in thousands)
Employment, all employees (seasonally adjusted)		7,412	7,355	(p)7,452	(p)7,452
Employment, production and nonsupervisory employees (seasonally adjusted)		5,447	5,413	(p)5,518	(p)5,466
Unemployment
Unemployment rate		9.4%	9.6%	8.6%	7.7%
Job openings, hires, and separations (in thousands)
Job openings		304	242	(p)369
Hires		310	326	(p)430
Separations		379	349	(p)303
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics, Current Population Survey, Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey)

Union Membership and Representation

Data series	Back data	2017	2018	2019	2020
Union membership and representation
Members of unions (percent of wage and salary workers)		14.0%	12.8%	12.6%	12.7%
Represented by unions (percent of wage and salary workers)		14.7%	13.8%	13.6%	13.4%

(Source: Current Population Survey)

Dynamic Changes in Employment

Data series	Back data	4th quarter 2019	1st quarter 2020	2nd quarter 2020	3rd quarter 2020
Dynamic changes in employment (in thousands)
Gross job gains		676	683	543	678
Gross job losses		649	626	1,044	663

(Source: Business Employment Dynamics)

Employment by Occupation

Data series	Employment, 2020
Carpenters	593,530
Construction laborers	827,100
Construction managers	235,940
Electricians	506,950
Operating engineers and other construction equipment operators	261,540

(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	Jan. 2021	Feb. 2021	Mar. 2021	Apr. 2021
Average hourly earnings		$32.17	$32.28	(p)$32.25	(p)$32.57
Average weekly hours		39.4	38.2	(p)39.4	(p)39.1
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings and Hours of Production and Nonsupervisory Employees

Data series	Back data	Jan. 2021	Feb. 2021	Mar. 2021	Apr. 2021
Average hourly earnings		$29.69	$29.65	(p)$29.77	(p)$30.21
Average weekly hours		40.2	38.6	(p)40.1	(p)39.8
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Current Employment Statistics)

Earnings by Occupation

Data series	Wages, 2020
	Hourly		Annual
	Median	Mean	Median	Mean
Carpenters	$23.91	$26.19	$49,730	$54,470
Construction laborers	$18.38	$20.92	$38,220	$43,520
Construction managers	$46.09	$51.02	$95,870	$106,120
Electricians	$26.62	$29.23	$55,360	$60,800
Operating engineers and other construction equipment operators	$25.04	$28.11	$52,090	$58,470

(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	2020	Back data	2020
Private industry
Retirement benefit plans		59		46
Defined benefit plans		15		15
Defined contribution plans		52		38

(Source: Employee Benefits in the United States)

Data series	After 1 year of service		After 20 years of service
	Back data	2020	Back data	2020
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	2020
Percent of private industry workers with access to employer-sponsored benefits
Health care		74
Paid vacation		76
Paid sick leave		62

(Source: Employee Benefits in the United States)

Employer Compensation Costs

Data series	Back data	2nd quarter 2020	3rd quarter 2020	4th quarter 2020	1st quarter 2021
Private industry
12-month percent change
Total compensation		3.3%	2.4%	2.4%	2.7%
Wages and salaries		3.9%	2.8%	2.8%	3.0%
3-month percent change
Total compensation		1.1%	0.4%	0.4%	0.7%
Wages and salaries		1.4%	0.4%	0.5%	0.6%

(Source: Compensation Cost Trends)

Data series	Private industry
	Compensation component ($ per hour worked)		Percent of total compensation
	Back data	4th quarter 2020	Back data	4th quarter 2020
Total compensation		40.61		100.0
Wages and salaries		28.29		69.7
Total benefits		12.32		30.3
Insurance		3.06		7.5
Retirement		2.12		5.2
Paid leave		1.85		4.6

(Source: Compensation Cost Trends)

Union Membership and Representation

Data series	Back data	Median weekly earnings
		2017	2018	2019	2020
Union membership and representation
Full-time workers		$840	$868	$909	$961
Members of unions		$1,163	$1,220	$1,257	$1,254
Represented by unions		$1,155	$1,210	$1,240	$1,234
Nonunion		$797	$819	$868	$920

(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	2016	2017	2018	2019
Fatalities
Number of fatalities	1,034	1,013	1,038	1,102
Blank cells indicate no data reported or data that do not meet publication criteria.

Data series	2019
Rate of injury and illness cases per 100 full-time workers
Total recordable cases	2.8
Cases involving days away from work, job restriction, or transfer	1.7
Cases involving days away from work	1.1
Cases involving days of job transfer or restriction	0.6
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	4th quarter 2019	1st quarter 2020	2nd quarter 2020	3rd quarter 2020
Number of establishments
Private industry		840,490	(p)839,816	(p)844,549	(p)853,348
Local government		4,292	(p)4,277	(p)4,278	(p)4,277
State government		1,724	(p)1,721	(p)1,721	(p)1,721
Federal government		3	(p)2	(p)1	(p)1
Establishments with changes in employment (in thousands)
With job gains (seasonally adjusted)		204	205	176	207
With job losses (seasonally adjusted)		193	190	260	197
Footnotes (p) Preliminary

(Source: Business Employment Dynamics, Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages)

 

Data extracted on: May 11, 2021