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LABOR PULSE

This is a transitional market: no longer the wild worker's market of 2023, but not yet a buyer's market for contractors either. Hiring is surgical, not aggressive. Workers at 2.2% quit rate are holding position, which means foremen and subs get something they haven't had in years: predictable crew stability. The catch is that rising unemployment (4.3%) reflects a skills mismatch, not a labor surplus. Specialized trades are still in short supply while generalist laborers wait on the bench. If you run a specialty trade crew, your people are still in demand and they know it.

THE TAKEAWAY

Steel is your friend right now, copper is not. For subs putting together multi-year bids on data centers or grid work, copper at $10,450/mt with a 2.4% monthly climb demands LME-linked escalation language in every contract. Nonres input prices are re-accelerating at 3.2% annualized after a quiet spring, and with ECI wage floors locked in above 4.8%, there is no relief in the labor cost column either. Price early, clause aggressively, or carry the risk.

Walbridge Breaks Ground on $16B Saline Data Center for Oracle and OpenAI

The Saline Barn campus in Saline Township, Michigan broke ground June 1 under Walbridge, a $16B, 1.4 GW, 250-acre campus across three buildings of 550,000 sq ft each, backed by Related Digital, Oracle, OpenAI, and Blackstone Real Estate as part of the Stargate initiative. Approximately 700 union tradespeople are on-site right now under a first-in-the-nation PLA covering 14 signatory trade unions under the National Maintenance Agreement, making it one of the largest active union construction sites in the country. Electricians, pipefitters, ironworkers, and operating engineers in the Great Lakes region have a direct hiring pipeline to this site through their respective union halls, with completion targeted for end of 2027.

Bechtel and Kiewit Tapped for $33B Power Generation Megaproject in Ohio

A 21-company Portsmouth Consortium anchored by SoftBank, AEP Ohio, and the U.S. Departments of Energy and Commerce has tapped Bechtel and Kiewit (ranked No. 2 and No. 3 on ENR's Top 400) to build 10 GW of new power generation, including 9.2 GW of natural gas, on a 3,700-acre former federal uranium enrichment site in Pike County, Ohio, tied to a $33B budget funded largely by Japanese institutional investment. Construction is expected to start this year, and the scope calls for large-scale gas turbine installation, high-voltage electrical, structural steel, and heavy civil concrete work across multiple units. This represents one of the largest dispatchable power buildouts in US history, producing a multi-year heavy industrial pipeline for pipefitters and high-voltage electrical trades in southern Ohio.

TSMC Closes Financing on $2.5B Arizona Fab Phase 2 Amid CHIPS Act Support

TSMC's Phase 2 expansion in Phoenix, managed by Austin Commercial, has closed its CHIPS Act-supported financing and started early site prep, bringing 2,200 peak workers to what is already the hottest heavy-industrial construction market in the country. The scope requires cleanroom specialists, heavy mechanical crews, process piping, and BAS low-voltage work, trades that are in extremely short supply across the Southwest. Subs already working Phoenix projects should expect wage pressure as top foremen weigh whether to jump to the TSMC site.

WHY IT MATTERS

The shift to liquid cooling is not a one-site experiment. Every major AI hyperscaler is moving in this direction, and it is permanently changing the trade ratio on data center builds. Pipefitters and mechanical subs who get liquid-cooling experience now, on a job like Aurelius, are positioning themselves for a decade of specialist work that air-cooled data centers never offered. If your union hall is in the Great Lakes region and you are not already tracking this job's hiring schedule, you should be.

IBEW Local 11 ratifies an 18% package. The Los Angeles local ratified a new master agreement this week securing an 18% wage and benefit increase over the next three years, a record settlement that sets a hard new benchmark for West Coast trades. Any sub bidding LA-basin infrastructure over this period needs to adjust labor escalation assumptions upward immediately, as competing halls will use this number in their next negotiations. IBEW

OSHA heat enforcement is live now. OSHA's National Emphasis Program on outdoor heat hazards took full enforcement effect this week, with random site inspections ramping up and fines for non-compliance tripling. Foremen need to start documenting water, rest, and shade breaks as of today, particularly on Southern and Western sites heading into peak summer heat. Construction Dive

Midwest MEP shortage hits 88% of contractors. A new AGC workforce survey released Tuesday shows 88% of contractors in the Great Lakes region are reporting project delays due to a lack of skilled MEP workers. Traveling tradespeople from the Sun Belt or East Coast can essentially set their own terms in Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana right now, particularly with the Saline and Aurelius projects ramping simultaneously.

Meta and ABC launch a $115M trades pipeline. Meta announced a $115M workforce academy with ABC, CBRE, and the National Urban League on June 8, funding free 5-week training in electrical, mechanical, plumbing, welding, and fiber, leading to NCCER credentials and guaranteed job offers from participating contractors including Turner. The program pilots in Louisiana, Ohio, Indiana, and Texas in 2026, directly targeting the data center trade shortage that this week's JOLTS numbers confirm.

IRA prevailing wage audits tighten this week. The Department of Labor released clarified audit guidance for the Inflation Reduction Act's prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements, affecting every contractor bidding green energy work. Non-union subs must immediately tighten payroll reporting or face retroactive tax credit clawbacks that could wipe out project-level margins. DOL / SAM.gov

The construction quit rate, at its lowest point since before the 2022 frenzy, meaning the era of workers jumping across the street for an extra four dollars an hour is pausing.

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