Union Membership, Coverage, Density, and Employment:
Private Sector Construction Workers
Year	Sample Size	Wage	At Cap	Union Wage	Nonunion Wage	Unadjusted Union Wage Prem.	Adjusted Union Wage Prem.
1973	2,211	$5.24	0.1%	$6.78	$4.22	60.5%	49.7%
1974	1,957	$5.52	0.2%	$7.17	$4.50	59.4%	48.9%
1975	1,734	$5.86	0.4%	$7.67	$4.77	60.8%	56.4%
1976	1,791	$6.34	0.4%	$8.39	$5.20	61.4%	54.6%
1977	2,360	$6.69	0.4%	$9.06	$5.42	67.1%	54.3%
1978	2,341	$6.93	0.4%	$9.45	$5.73	65.0%	51.1%
1979	2,187	$7.82	0.4%	$10.06	$6.53	54.0%	43.3%
1980	2,658	$8.38	0.6%	$10.67	$7.21	47.9%	44.5%
1981	604	$8.79	0.9%	$11.08	$7.59	46.0%	42.0%
1983	6,885	$9.45	1.4%	$13.11	$8.07	62.4%	55.6%
1984	7,153	$9.58	1.8%	$13.71	$8.23	66.5%	58.6%
1985	7,409	$9.90	2.0%	$14.29	$8.62	65.8%	57.0%
1986	7,768	$10.22	2.0%	$14.72	$8.89	65.6%	50.8%
1987	7,559	$10.52	2.5%	$14.93	$9.37	59.3%	50.8%
1988	7,205	$11.03	3.3%	$15.34	$9.81	56.4%	45.9%
1989	7,259	$11.51	0.4%	$15.70	$10.18	54.2%	46.9%
1990	7,369	$11.94	0.5%	$16.13	$10.78	49.6%	44.4%
1991	6,533	$12.10	0.4%	$16.53	$10.86	52.2%	45.9%
1992	6,197	$12.36	0.3%	$17.16	$11.08	54.9%	43.8%
1993	6,186	$12.54	0.3%	$16.89	$11.31	49.3%	42.5%
1994	7,355	$12.82	0.5%	$17.63	$11.70	50.6%	46.6%
1995	7,590	$13.16	0.5%	$18.32	$12.04	52.1%	50.6%
1996	5,411	$13.75	0.6%	$18.40	$12.55	46.6%	45.0%
1997	5,618	$14.08	0.5%	$19.02	$12.81	48.4%	47.6%
1998	5,677	$14.72	0.2%	$19.62	$13.66	43.6%	43.1%
1999	5,558	$15.30	0.2%	$19.47	$13.95	39.5%	44.6%
2000	5,774	$15.81	0.3%	$20.72	$14.76	40.4%	40.8%
2001	6,302	$16.83	0.4%	$21.46	$15.51	38.4%	41.9%
2002	6,733	$17.05	0.6%	$21.22	$15.97	32.8%	44.6%
2003	6,701	$17.35	0.6%	$22.65	$16.33	38.7%	44.1%
2004	6,924	$17.40	0.6%	$23.22	$16.49	40.8%	44.4%
2005	7,349	$17.59	0.8%	$24.01	$16.84	42.6%	40.6%
2006	7,501	$18.39	0.8%	$25.10	$17.59	42.7%	41.7%
2007	7,520	$18.98	1.0%	$25.63	$18.22	40.7%	43.2%
2008	6,676	$20.56	1.2%	$27.10	$19.72	37.4%	42.2%
2009	5,786	$20.98	1.1%	$27.76	$20.27	36.9%	44.5%
2010	5,126	$20.94	1.4%	$27.89	$20.30	37.4%	45.4%
2011	5,085	$21.33	1.5%	$27.74	$20.76	33.6%	48.7%
2012	5,010	$21.77	1.5%	$28.21	$21.22	32.9%	46.0%
2013	5,015	$21.87	1.6%	$28.37	$21.20	33.8%	44.7%
2014	5,206	$22.30	1.8%	$29.31	$21.29	37.7%	47.9%
2015	4,955	$23.02	2.0%	$29.09	$22.18	31.2%	40.2%
2016	5,216	$23.98	2.3%	$30.98	$23.10	34.1%	49.7%
2017	5,308	$24.83	2.4%	$31.06	$23.89	30.0%	46.0%
2018	5,390	$26.15	3.2%	$33.42	$25.06	33.4%	47.4%
2019	5,213	$26.97	3.5%	$34.20	$25.66	33.3%	44.8%
2020	4,631	$28.87	3.8%	$33.37	$28.05	19.0%	34.4%
2021	4,566	$29.71	4.1%	$35.77	$28.32	26.3%	39.8%
2022	4,654	$31.11	4.6%	$37.23	$30.34	22.7%	38.1%
2023	4,651	$32.43	3.0%	$38.77	$31.40	23.5%	35.8%
2024	4,743	$33.56	0.7%	$40.64	$32.37	25.6%	38.9%
Beginning in April 2023, the CPS gradually phased in dynamic topcoding that assigned anyone
in the top 3% of the weekly earnings distribution a value that matches the average within the
top 3 percent.  The estimate of the percent at the cap excludes those who are assigned a
dynamic top code.   By the end of 2024,  no earnings are capped at $2885.
Copyright 2025 by Barry T. Hirsch, David A. Macpherson, and William E. Even.