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Study Finds Union Jobs
17% More Productive

Union construction jobs are almost 17 percent more productive on average than nonunion projects, according to the second report in a three-year study of 1,185 projects in the United States and Europe. The report was given to the Construction Users Roundtable in Tucson, Arizona, by Dean Findley of the firm Independent Project Analysis (IPA), which has evaluated North American projects since 1992.

In researching effective contractor contributions and team performance, IPA found mixed union and nonunion jobs to be slightly less productive than nonunion projects. Findley reports that 25 percent of construction cost is field labor and labor is usually the largest non-material cost on a project.

He foresees construction labor shortages becoming more common as the population ages in the developed countries and says that in low-wage countries, poor labor productivity is the primary obstacle to low-cost manufacturing facilities.

IBEWCURRENTS

May 2003 IBEW Journal