Construction Adds 9,000 April Jobs as Data Center Demand Lifts Pay to $38.73

2 articles · Updated · mecktimes.com · May 20

Construction employment rose by 9,000 in April to 8.321 million, with 19,000 nonresidential hires more than offsetting a 10,400 drop in residential jobs.
data centers and other nonresidential projects drove the gains, while contractors kept raising wages to attract workers; average hourly pay for production and nonsupervisory staff reached $38.73.
Over 12 months, the industry added 50,000 jobs, or 0.6%, slightly ahead of the 0.2% increase in total nonfarm payrolls, with nonresidential employment up 98,600 and residential down 49,200.
Construction pay rose 4.8% from a year earlier and now runs 20.2% above the average for all private-sector production workers.
Industry officials said community resistance to new data centers could curb one of the fastest-growing nonresidential segments and slow future hiring.

Data centers offer a construction boom but few permanent jobs. Is this a fair trade for communities?

The AI boom is straining America's power grid. Can we build the future without causing blackouts?

With AI's thirst for power growing, can local communities veto a data center's construction?