Average hourly earnings in construction rose to $20.51 per hour, seasonally adjusted, 20% higher than the all-private sector average for production or nonsupervisory workers. Part of the increase represents a shift from lower-paid homebuilding and remodeling jobs to higher-skilled nonresidential crafts.
Construction spending totaled a record $1.198 trillion in 2006, up 4.8% from 2005, according to the Census Bureau.