Construction builds enviable work force

Earlier this year, the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that the number of American workers belonging to labor unions slipped to fewer than one in eight, down from one in five a generation ago. Given the grim statistics, you might expect labor leaders to be dispirited.

However, union organizing campaigns are more aggressive than ever, targeting the fast-growing service sector and advancing the national debate over universal health care.

Here in Washington, we are bucking the national trend. Union membership increased by 26,000, and union jobs are the foundation of a thriving economy that is building wealth for all residents.

Nowhere is the expanding economy more evident than in the construction industry, which experienced the second-largest growth of any economic sector, adding more than 11,000 jobs last year. Many of the new union construction jobs pay family wages and offer comprehensive health care and retirement benefits. They are the kind of jobs that fulfill middle-class dreams, allowing workers to buy a home, start a family, save for children to attend college and create a financially secure future.

Washington may be famous for its technology companies, but construction is often highly skilled work that can’t be exported offshore. Union construction workers are literally building the future of Eastern Washington.

It’s easy to see why workers are joining the construction trades and other heavily unionized fields. The median wage of a union construction worker exceeds the wage of a non-union worker by $359 a week in the United States – that’s nearly $20,000 annually. Union workers are more likely than their non-union counterparts to have health insurance for their families, job-related benefit pension plans and free skills training.

One of the side effects of Washington’s recent construction boom has been a shortage of workers. To meet the demand, unions such as the Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters actively recruit workers through participation in state-approved apprenticeship programs. In addition, by partnering with school districts to offer pre-apprenticeship training to high school students, carpenters and other building trades are ensuring that teenagers are exposed to skilled, vocational careers.

Construction doesn’t only benefit those working at the job site. Factor in the extensive use of raw materials, steel, concrete, drywall and lumber – and the contribution of the construction sector is much greater than the total number of workers. A 2004 study by the University of Washington’s Department of Construction Management found that construction spending sets off a chain reaction in the economy; every $1 million invested in new construction generates more than $2 million in additional economic activity. In Olympia, higher than anticipated tax revenue from the construction sector has helped produce a $2 billion budget surplus. This surplus will be invested in education, health care and the environment to benefit all Washington residents.

But perhaps the construction boom is most visible in the new homes, office buildings and transportation infrastructure being built in Eastern Washington. Those developments are reshaping our region, allowing us to accommodate new residents and jobs while improving mobility. As the recent bridge-collapse tragedy in Minnesota so definitively demonstrated, it is critical to maintain the safety and durability of our critical infrastructure.

Some have argued that a downturn in the construction sector is imminent. While the industry has experienced boom and bust cycles in the past, the long-term outlook in Washington remains positive.

As long as workers continue to receive competitive compensation and health care benefits and lawmakers plan for growth, we can count on the construction industry to generate valuable middle-class jobs. The Carpenters Union is committed to building strong families and communities through competitive wages and family benefits.