Labor issues nabbed headlines in 2023, and not just in construction.

Actors, writers and autoworkers each made national news with their strikes, demanding new contracts and benefits for their members. Meanwhile, the White House took action on its pro-labor promises by updating the Davis-Bacon Act, proposing new OSHA rules and, as recently as this week, implementing a mandate for project labor agreements on federal projects.

Meanwhile, major funds from the federal government fueled a boom in infrastructure and manufacturing work. That hasn’t come without issue, however, as megaprojects gobble up available workers. The divide between open jobs and the skilled workers to fill them remains wide.

And, as in years past, the trades were a hazardous place to work. A new report showed that construction counted more at-work fatalities than any other industry, even as contractors continued their efforts to improve safety, both through cultural shifts and advancements in protective equipment.

Read on for our top labor and safety stories from the last year: