Dive Brief:
- The Engineering News-Record's Construction Industry Confidence Index fourth-quarter survey found that among the respondents who provided 2016 pay raise details, the average pay increase will be 4.63%. ENR said 223 of the 253 construction industry executives surveyed provided payment detail, with eight indicating they would raise pay between 15%-30%. Discounting those outlier firms, the average estimated pay increase would be 4.18%. The overall median increase was 4%.
- The ENR survey found specialty trade contractor employees are in line for the highest average pay hike, 4.25%, while general contractors plan to raise pay by only 3.94%. Design firms plan to raise wages by an average of 4.13%.
- Of the 246 executives that answered the question of whether they will add staff in 2016, 72% responded yes, 18.3% said no, and 9.8% were unsure.
Dive Insight:
ENR also found that out of 166 respondents, 65 said project managers were the most sought after, followed by 55 looking for engineers. 29 firms said they are looking for estimators, and 21 reported they need superintendents.
Craft labor is also in demand, with 37 firms reporting that they wanted to hire workers over a broad range of categories, including field laborers, journeymen, lead tradesmen and skilled equipment operators.
The construction industry has been in the throes of a skilled labor shortage over the past few years, with unemployment hitting a low rate of 6.2%. However, the industry had major employment increases in October (31,000) and November (46,000).
Industry experts have said that the big hiring numbers could be partly due to the fact that employers could be raising compensation to lure workers back into the industry, as most of the ENR respondents in the survey said they will do as well next year.
