Pay and other benefits for union workers in the construction industry saw a 4.7% increase in the first nine months of this year, continuing a trend that has been underway for the last four years.
So says a new report compiled by the Washington-based Construction Labor Research Council, which notes that between 2020 and 2023 union wages and benefits jumped from 2.8% to just under 5%.
Regionally, the increases ranged from 4.4% in the Northeast to a significant 5.6% in the Northwest. In what the CLRC classifies as the southwest pacific region, which includes Arizona and New Mexico, wages and benefits saw a 5.0% jump.
Colorado is categorized in the mountain northern plains region, where wages and benefits were up by 4.8%.
Looking at it from the perspectives of the crafts, the increases ranged from 3.7% for plumbers to around 5.8% for insulators, with plasterers seeing a 5.2% jump; followed by cement masons at 4.9%; and teamsters at 4.7%.
Continues the report: “The average total package increase for all contract years for union crafts in construction was 4.0%.
Putting these numbers together, remarks the CLRC report, is not always an easy thing. “This is because the vast majority of negotiated union agreements are multiyear (most are three years in length) and are not always negotiated in real time with major economic changes.”
Overall package increases took a dive during the Great Recession, when they dropped to 1.7%. A long, but steady climb saw the number improve to around 3% by the time of the onset of the Covid 19 economy.
October 20, 2025
By Garry Boulard
Photo courtesy of Pixabay
