Since the Great Recession, the U.S. has seen a major shortage of workers in the construction industry.
‘A whole set of limiting factors’Dietz said “there’s a whole set of limiting factors” for the construction industry over the last 10 years. Wages may play a small role in the lack of available workers. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics data, the median annual wage for construction workers in May 2018 was $34,810.
“Admittedly, there’s been a slowdown in immigration,” Dietz said. “If you talk to individual markets, particularly in markets where that share is high — Florida, Texas, California, Arizona — they’ll say the slowdown in immigration has had an impact on the availability of labor. But the fact that the share has ticked up a little big suggests there are two factors at play, and I think you’ve got to give equal weight to both.