Construction pay fair to middlin' by comparison - The Detroit Building Tradesman
Among all U.S. construction workers, including union and nonunion, the highest paid were 'elevator installers,' earning $28.40 per hour. They're followed by boilermakers ($22.50 per hour); 'pile-driver operators' ($21.60); structural iron workers ($20.39); electricians ($20.30) brick masons ($20.14) and plumbers/ pipe fitters/ steamfitters ($20.13).
The disparity between overall U.S. construction workers' wages, and the higher incomes for union-weighted paychecks in Michigan, is obvious. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that in 2004, all union workers earned an average of 21.6 percent more than their nonunion counterparts. Michigan's 21.6 percent unionization rate in 2004 for all workers was the third-highest in the nation.