Year-to-Date Collective Bargaining Yields Average First-Year Increase of 2.5%

The AGC-supported Construction Labor Research Council (CLRC) has released its second report of the year on collective bargaining settlements in the industry.  Settlements reported between January and September 2015 resulted in an average first-year wage-and-benefit increase of 2.5 percent or $1.25.  For newly negotiated multiyear agreements, the average second-year increase was 2.6 percent or $1.32, and the average third-year increase was 2.6 percent or $1.38.  The average first-year increase is higher in both percentage and dollar amount than that of recent years, but the second- and third-year increases are relatively flat, CLRC reports.  CLRC further observes that the most common first-year increase amounts to date in 2015 lie in the $1.21-$1.40 range, which is much higher than those of the prior two years, which lie in the $0.81-$1.00 range.  The percentage of settlements with no increase has significantly declined – from 8 percent in both 2014 and 2013 to just 2 percent so far this year.

Regionally, the highest average first-year increase reported so far this year came from the Northwest Region (AK, ID, OR, WA) at 2.9 percent or $1.57, while the lowest came from the Southeast Region (AL, FL, GA, KY, MS, NC, SC, TN, VA) at 1.4 percent or $0.50.  It is worth noting that data from the Northwest Region covers only six reported agreements out of the 165 total agreements analyzed in the report.  The greatest number of settlements, 109, came from the East North Central Region (IL, IN, MI, MN, OH, WI, WV), which had an average first-year increase of 2.6 percent or $1.31.

The craft with the highest first-year increase on a percentage basis in settlements reported so far this year is the Carpenters at 3.0 percent, while the Painters had the lowest at 2.2 percent.  The Painters also had the lowest dollar amount average at $1.01, while the Ironworkers had the highest at $1.65.

Source: AGC of America