Dive Brief:
- Construction employment in New York City rose 7% in 2015, a 40-year-high, and construction workers saw a 3% increase in wages, the highest since 2008, according to the New York Building Congress.
- Construction activity in New York City generated 138,200 jobs in 2015, the most of which (65%) went to plumbers and electricians. The NYBC predicts a 6.4% increase to 147,100 jobs in 2016.
- Richard Anderson, president of the NYBC, said the city spent $40 billion in construction last year, and he expects the same for 2016.
Dive Insight
Average construction wages were $76,300 last year, but heavy and civil engineering workers took home an average of $120,700, up from $111,200 in 2014. Anderson said demand is driving wage growth, although the percentage increase is not as high as it was in previous building booms. Anderson chalked this up to contractors using higher numbers of less expensive, non-union labor.
Jonathan Miller, an appraiser and president of Miller Samuel Inc., told The Wall Street Journal that much of the construction activity in New York City has been the result of a "residential development boom." James Parrott, chief economist for the Fiscal Policy Institute, also told The Journal that there has been significant demand for health-care facilities, public infrastructure projects and commercial developments.
Earlier this month, the NYBC reported that the nearly $40 billion in 2015 New York City construction activity had generated an additional $22 billion in spending and other output, resulting in a $61 billion economic boon for the city. This was a 7% increase from 2014's economic benefit of $57 billion. The NYBC said the $22 billion included an $11.6 billion construction-related spend and $10.4 billion in increased consumer spending.
A "mini-boom" of sorts also took place in educational facility construction in New York as well last year, with $3 billion worth of starts and renovations, an 83% increase from 2014. Dodge Data & Analytics information also indicated that NYC more than tripled its construction spending on colleges and universities between 2014 to 2015 and quadrupled spending for post-secondary schools between 2010 to 2014.
