Eye on Housing Residential Building Worker Wages Continue to Rise Amid Uncertainty

RESIDENTIAL BUILDING WORKER WAGES CONTINUE

To Rise Amid Uncertainty

Average hourly earnings for residential building workers* continue to rise in May as the construction labor market remains tight, meanwhile the growth rate is trending down given tightening financial conditions and increased economic uncertainty.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report, average hourly earnings (AHE) for residential building workers were $29.18 in May 2022, increasing 5% from $27.79 a year ago. This was 17.0% higher than the manufacturing’s average hourly earnings of $24.95, 11.5% higher than transportation and warehousing’s, and 9.7% lower than mining and logging’s. Construction job openings was little changed in May with 434,000 jobs, the highest measure in the history of the data series. As skilled labor shortage persists, rising wages may be one of the effective ways to attract employees to fill empty positions.

Average hourly earnings for residential building workers have increased significantly since the COVID-19 pandemic recession. Between December 2019 and December 2021, residential building workers’ average hourly earnings increased about 12%.

Note: * Data used in this blog relate to production and nonsupervisory workers in the residential building industry. This group accounts for approximately two-third of the total employment on residential building industry.

BY: JING FU

On an unadjusted basis, the Purchasing Index showed a 17% yearover-year decline and the Refinancing Index showed a 78% year-overyear decline. Comparison of the year-over-year percent changes in refinancing and purchasing shows that from October 2021 to present, refinancing has declined by a larger amount. The refinance share of mortgage activity decreased to 29.6% of total applications from 30.3% the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity decreased to 9.5% of total applications.