Construction wage gains are now slowing quickly less than a year after construction spending began to decline. The buyers’ market for construction labor will continue through most of next year. Multiyear contracts negotiated in the next eighteen months will have slim wage gains into 2012. Wages gains progressively accelerated from a 1-2% annual pace in 2003-04 to nearly 5% in 2006-07 and have now slipped to 4.4% pace over the last year. More slowdown is expected, driven partly by wage cuts in some key markets.

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