Dive Brief:
- In the second quarter of 2016, and for the first time, women in the repair, maintenance and installation segment of the construction industry, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, made more (3.7%) than their male counterparts, Builder reported.
- Women in that segment, whose earnings have increased 40% year over year, made a weekly median wage of $848, while the men made $818.
- Men continued to dominate wages in the overall construction and extraction industries, however, with women making only a median weekly wage of $685, while men earned $786.
Dive Insight:
In addition, BLS statistics showed the construction and extraction trades are still comprised of a majority of men. Overall, there were almost 5.9 million men employed in those industries versus 117,000 women. And while women made more in the repair, maintenance and installation segment, their numbers totaled only 128,000 in comparison to almost four million male workers.
When the Associated General Contractors of America reported on its analysis of June BLS data, it found that wages in the categories they tracked increased 2.8% year over year to $28.13, and hours worked rose to 39.2. This, the AGC said, meant that employers are still having a hard time finding skilled workers, as it appears the current pool of labor is working longer hours. Coming to a contradictory conclusion, however, were Goldman Sachs analysts who said such modest increases in wages are not indicative of a labor shortage. In an April report, Goldman Sachs said that if there really was a labor shortage, wages would be increasing at a much higher rate instead of following the national average so closely.