Construction Economy Is Booming Never before have there been so many construction jobs in the United States. Driven by investments enacted in the first year of the Biden-Harris administration, the construction sector is setting new all-time highs for construction employment almost every month. Construction employment reached 8.3 million jobs nationally in August of this year. 1 Over 720,000 new construction jobs have been created since President Biden signed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law in November 2021. The legislation made historic investments in bridges, roads, water systems, and much more. The package also included the biggest five-year highway bill ever passed into law. Highway, street, and bridge construction is at an all-time high. So too is the broader category of heavy and civil engineering construction, which includes water and wastewater systems, utilities, pipelines, and more. In a rare display of bipartisanship, every Democrat and nineteen Republicans voted to pass the bill through the U.S. Senate. In Nevada, Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) said, “Congress and the White House are fulfilling our promise to work across party lines and finally invest in our nation’s infrastructure while creating good-paying union jobs.” Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) fights for good-paying union jobs. In the House of Representatives, thirteen Republicans joined all but six Democrats to pass the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Congressman Don Bacon, a Republican from Nebraska, was among them. The former Brigadier General and Air Force pilot, and a longtime supporter of Davis-Bacon prevailing wages, said, “I departed from the gridlock, and I crossed the aisle to support critical infrastructure.” Extreme anti-worker voices, who favor policies like those contained in Project 2025 2 , have signaled that they will limit or attempt to stop further government investments, and roll back the progress made on worker protections and the Davis-Bacon prevailing wage. Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) is a strong supporter of the Davis-Bacon prevailing wage. We must make our voices heard at the ballot box to secure future work and industry standards for Operating Engineers and other allied crafts. 1: Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics; 2: Source: https://betterinaunion.org/project-2025
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Leading to Boom in Operating Engineer Jobs “We have more apprentices and more man hours because of the Biden-Harris infrastructure bill. Our members are working.” — Terry Kison, Local 324 Operating Engineer Operating Engineers are reaping the rewards of the Biden-Harris pro-union agenda. In February 2022, the President issued Executive Order 14063, which requires the use of Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) on most large-scale federal construction projects. As a Direct Results of the President’s Executive Order The IUOE processed 349 PLA requests in 2023 totaling .1 billion, a 60% increase from 2022. We have processed 371 PLA requests so far in 2024, and still have another four months to go. 60% 6.8 MILLION HOURS In 2023, the IUOE had the most work under the National Maintenance Agreement in our union’s history, with over 6.8 million hours and 2,445 Site Extension Requests. This represents a 35% increase from the previous year and a 31.5% increase from our best year ever, which was 2008.
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