Construction hourly wages are up at a 4.6% annual pace in the last six months and will probably accelerate a little more in the next few months. Also worth noting: annual wage gains peaked at 4.3% at the peak of the last building cycle in early 2000.
Benefits costs are actually rising more slowly than a few ago. The recent pickup in wages is largely due to shortages of skilled workers with a contribution from inflation catch up wage demands. Consumer Price Index inflation is 1.25% higher in the last two years now than it was in 2000.
Year-to-year % change in average hourly earnings
| Year | Quarter | All | NR |
| 2001 | Construction | General Contractors | |
| 1 | 4.1 | 3.1 | |
| 2 | 4 | 1.1 | |
| 3 | 3.7 | 0.6 | |
| 4 | 3.3 | 1.2 | |
| 2002 | 1 | 2.9 | 2.8 |
| 2 | 2.6 | 4.1 | |
| 3 | 2.9 | 4.5 | |
| 4 | 3.1 | 4.1 | |
| 2003 | 1 | 3.2 | 3.7 |
| 2 | 3 | 4.7 | |
| 3 | 2.6 | 3.3 | |
| 4 | 2 | 2.8 | |
| 2004 | 1 | 1.8 | 2.3 |
| 2 | 2 | 0.6 | |
| 3 | 2.2 | 1.5 | |
| 4 | 2.5 | 2.4 | |
| 2005 | 1 | 2.6 | 2.1 |
| 2 | 2.6 | 2.5 | |
| 3 | 2.7 | 1.8 | |
| 4 | 3 | 0.7 | |
| 2006 | 1 | 3.5 | 1.7 |
| 2 | 3.9 | 2.5 | |
| 3 | 4 | 3.8 | |
| 4 | 4.1 | 5 | |
| 2007 | 1 | 4 | 5.9 |
