The Paycheck, August 2026

This month in trade pay

A preview of the monthly Paycheck email: hiring demand, pay figures by trade, and which datasets updated. Email drafts are prepared from this same digest; nothing is sent without approval.

Hiring demand, August 2026

Seasonally adjusted construction employment and production-worker earnings, BLS Current Employment Statistics. National, industry-level figures, not trade or city specific. The latest month is preliminary.

Industry	Employment	12-mo change	Hourly earnings	12-mo change
Construction (NAICS 23)	8.36M	up 1.5%	$39.36	up 5.0%
Construction of buildings (NAICS 236)	1.87M	up 1.5%	not published	not published
Heavy and civil engineering (NAICS 237)	1.21M	up 2.3%	not published	not published
Specialty trade contractors (NAICS 238)	5.28M	up 1.3%	not published	not published

By trade

National medians from BLS OEWS May 2025, projected openings per year from BLS Employment Projections 2025-2035, and the cities with the biggest year-over-year median pay moves.

Electricians

National median: $30.38/hr
Openings per year: 72,700
Outlook 2024-2034: 9% (Much faster than average)

Biggest pay moves

Minneapolis, MN: down 13.9% to $39.37/hr
San Antonio, TX: up 8.3% to $27.41/hr
Tampa, FL: up 6.8% to $27.62/hr

Plumbers, Pipefitters & Steamfitters

National median: $30.67/hr
Openings per year: 42,000
Outlook 2024-2034: 4% (About as fast as the average)

Biggest pay moves

Boston, MA: up 15.7% to $46.52/hr
Washington, DC: up 12.2% to $34.55/hr
San Diego, CA: up 9.7% to $34.86/hr

HVAC Technicians

National median: $29.33/hr
Openings per year: 40,600
Outlook 2024-2034: 8% (Much faster than average)

Biggest pay moves

Los Angeles, CA: up 13.9% to $35.49/hr
Denver, CO: up 10.1% to $34.41/hr
San Antonio, TX: up 9.0% to $28.17/hr

Welders

National median: $25.84/hr
Openings per year: 40,300
Outlook 2024-2034: 2% (Slower than the average)

Biggest pay moves

Houston, TX: up 7.7% to $27.86/hr
Miami, FL: up 6.2% to $26.25/hr
Dallas-Fort Worth, TX: up 4.7% to $24.82/hr

Carpenters

National median: $29.12/hr
Openings per year: 62,800
Outlook 2024-2034: 4% (About as fast as the average)

Biggest pay moves

Portland, OR: up 12.0% to $35.44/hr
San Francisco, CA: up 10.2% to $42.89/hr
St. Louis, MO: up 9.0% to $34.13/hr

Automotive Service Technicians

National median: $24.34/hr
Openings per year: 66,200
Outlook 2024-2034: 4% (About as fast as the average)

Biggest pay moves

St. Louis, MO: up 22.3% to $27.98/hr
Sacramento, CA: up 10.9% to $34.63/hr
Detroit, MI: up 10.5% to $26.92/hr

Painters (Construction & Maintenance)

National median: $23.75/hr
Openings per year: 24,900
Outlook 2024-2034: 4% (As fast as average)

Biggest pay moves

San Diego, CA: up 11.6% to $26.91/hr
Denver, CO: up 6.6% to $27.92/hr
New York, NY: up 5.1% to $29.53/hr

Roofers

National median: $26.65/hr
Openings per year: 12,000
Outlook 2024-2034: 6% (Faster than the average)

Biggest pay moves

Chicago, IL: up 18.0% to $39.47/hr
Baltimore, MD: up 11.4% to $27.11/hr
Boston, MA: down 6.1% to $31.90/hr

Landscaping & Groundskeeping Workers

National median: $18.82/hr
Openings per year: 149,500
Outlook 2024-2034: 4% (About as fast as the average)

Biggest pay moves

Los Angeles, CA: up 9.1% to $21.46/hr
Philadelphia, PA: up 8.9% to $20.26/hr
Washington, DC: up 7.2% to $20.53/hr

Maintenance & Repair Workers

National median: $23.84/hr
Openings per year: 148,700
Outlook 2024-2034: 4% (About as fast as the average)

Biggest pay moves

Los Angeles, CA: up 8.1% to $27.17/hr
San Antonio, TX: up 7.5% to $21.82/hr
San Diego, CA: up 5.6% to $26.22/hr

Data vintages

The dataset vintage behind every figure above.

BLS wage figures (OEWS): May 2025
Monthly hiring demand (CES): August 2026
County job data (QCEW): 2025 annual
Union pay data (CPS): 2025
Fatal injury data (CFOI): 2024
Injury data (SOII): 2023-2024
Benefits data (ECEC): June 2026
Rent data (ACS): 2024 1-year
Apprenticeship data (DOL): FY2024
National openings (BLS EP): 2025-2035
State openings (Projections Central): 2024-2034