Updated
PERM occupation, SOC 47-2061.00, #89 of 1,410 by filings
Construction Laborers
- Biggest sponsor
- JCQ Services, Inc. · 6% of its filings
- Busiest state
- NC · 8% of its filings
- Major group
- Construction and extraction · SOC 47
Weighing an offer for this job?
Where it falls among certified offers, and the four wage levels DOL sets for it by area.
Median wage
$34,108
all PERM $103,272
Filings
710
#89 of 1,410
Approval
90.8%
field 96.8%
Median days
473
4 faster than the field
What it pays
Where its median offer sits among every occupation, then the whole ladder of certified offers by year and by state.
Median offered wage
$34,108above 16%
Approval rate
90.8%ahead of 16%
Median days to decision
473 daysahead of 57%
Each bar counts occupations at that value. More
- 5th to 95th
- 25th to 75th
- Median
- 10th and 90th
FY2024
$31,595 median · 53 certified cases
FY2025
$32,406 median · 350 certified cases
FY2026
$37,752 median · 217 certified cases
- 10th
- $28,463
- +11.7% since FY2024
- Median
- $37,752
- +19.5% since FY2024
- 90th
- $51,626
- +30.6% since FY2024
- 95th
- $57,691
- +38.7% since FY2024
These years are not measuring the same group of filings. The count moves by 6.6 times between the largest year and the smallest, so a change in the ladder is at least partly a change in which employers filed rather than a change in what the work pays. Read the shape, not the difference.
| Fiscal year | Cases | 5th | 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th | 95th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2024 | 53 | $24,998 | $25,480 | $28,912 | $31,595 | $33,280 | $39,524 | $41,600 |
| FY2025 | 350 | $23,379 | $26,541 | $30,618 | $32,406 | $37,425 | $43,674 | $48,838 |
| FY2026 | 217 | $27,498 | $28,463 | $34,445 | $37,752 | $43,430 | $51,626 | $57,691 |
A median answers whether pay moved. More
Who files it
The sponsors and firms with the most PERM filings under this code, the places the work sits, and who the workers were.
Sponsors filing it
- JCQ Services, Inc. 43 filings · 100.0% approved
- GRMORALES CONTRACTOR LLC 28 filings
- Barnhill Contracting Company 26 filings
- Ashley Robinson Builders LLC 25 filings
- Broughton Construction, LLC 24 filings
- Stucco Colors Design LLC 24 filings
How this is counted
The employers with the most applications under this code. 170 of 710 filings, 24% of the total.
Firms filing it
- Ruby Law Group LLC 43 filings · 100.0% approved
- The Griesbaum Law Firm PLLC 42 filings · 100.0% approved
- MAS Labor 365, LLC 36 filings · 100.0% approved
- Law Office of David Yurkofsky, Esq. 26 filings
- Mason Law Firm, PLLC 25 filings
- Dinsmore & Shohl LLP 24 filings
How this is counted
The law firms named on the most applications under this code. 196 of 710 filings, 28% of the total.
Where the jobs are
- North Carolina 57
- Texas 51
- Georgia 49
- Utah 48
- Florida 38
- Maryland 36
How this is counted
The worksite state on the application, which is where the job is and not where the company is headquartered. Volume by state across everyone is on the state map. These 6 states cover 279 of 710 filings.
Where the work is
- Hattiesburg, MS 25
- Bluffdale, UT 24
- Louisville, KY 24
- Laurel, MD 20
- Norcross, GA 18
- Chandler, AZ 17
How this is counted
The worksite city on the application, which is where the job is. These 6 cities cover 128 of 710 filings.
- Every sponsor that files it, by state, approval rate, offered wage and time to a decision
- Every filing for it, PERM, wage requests and H-1B, case by case
Newspapers it advertised in
- 57 cases
Orlando Sentinel
- 46 cases
The Salt Lake Tribune
- 34 cases
The Baltimore Sun
- 28 cases
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
- 25 cases
Hattiesburg American
- 24 cases
Courier Journal
How this is counted
The newspaper or professional journal named for each case's two print ads, one count per paper per case, however the filer spelled it.
Additional steps it used
- 5 cases
Job search websites
- 4 cases
Local or ethnic newspapers
- 3 cases
Radio or TV ads
- 1 cases
Campus placement offices
- 1 cases
The employer's website
- 1 cases
Trade or professional organizations
How this is counted
The steps a professional job needs beyond the job order and the ads, by the number of cases that name each.
How long before filing it began
- 0.0%
Under 30 days
- 1.2%
30 to 59 days
- 27%
60 to 89 days
- 21%
90 to 119 days
- 14%
120 to 149 days
- 37%
150 to 180 days
- 1.1%
Over 180 days
How this is counted
Days from the first recruitment step to the filing. 20 C.F.R. § 656.17(e) puts the job order and ads 30 to 180 days before filing.
Who filled these jobs, FY2016 to FY2023
From DOL's old form; the form in use since mid-2023 doesn't carry them. Top six of each.
Country of citizenship
- Mexico 8
- El Salvador 1
- Honduras 1
- Peru 1
Worker's education
- None 10
- High School 1
Visa held when filed
- NOT IN USA 5
- H-2B 4
- F-1 1
Schools
- SANTA EDELMIRA 1
Fields of study
- GENERAL 1
The job itself
What O*NET says the work is, what the market pays it by BLS's survey, its outlook, and DOL's wage levels year by year.
- United States1,096,780 jobs
- Hattiesburg, MSHattiesburg
- Salt Lake City-Murray, UTBluffdale
- Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-INLouisville
- Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WVLaurel
- Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GANorcross
- middle half of pay (BLS)
- median
- 10th to 90th percentile
- DOL's Levels I to IV, left to right
- median PERM offer
| Area | BLS median | Level I | Level II | Level III | Level IV |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | $47,120 | ||||
| Hattiesburg, MS | $35,700 | $29,307 | $33,426 | $37,523 | $41,642 |
| Salt Lake City-Murray, UT | $47,460 | $36,837 | $43,472 | $50,086 | $56,722 |
| Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN | $47,420 | $37,274 | $43,472 | $49,691 | $55,890 |
| Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV | $47,430 | $39,229 | $44,429 | $49,608 | $54,808 |
| Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA | $42,010 | $31,907 | $37,502 | $43,098 | $48,693 |
How these figures fit together
BLS surveys employers on what they pay everyone in a job; DOL builds its four levels from the same survey a year later (the July 2026 wage year uses BLS's May 2025 estimates). DOL publishes levels by area, not nationally, so the United States line has none. Levels are hourly in DOL's tables; here they're shown a year at 2,080 hours, as DOL computes them. The metros are the ones holding the most of this job's PERM filings, placed by Census's county files.
The block is the middle half of what employers report paying everyone in this job, citizen or not; the ticks under it are DOL's four prevailing wage levels for that metro, the floors a PERM or H-1B offer is held to. More
DOL's levels for this job in Hattiesburg, MS, year by year
Each July DOL resets the four levels from BLS's newest survey. A determination keeps the figures of the year it was issued in.
| Wage year | Level I | Level II | Level III | Level IV |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-27 | $29,307 | $33,426 | $37,523 | $41,642 |
| 2025-26 | $29,058 | $33,280 | $37,523 | $41,746 |
| 2024-25 | $27,477 | $31,824 | $36,192 | $40,539 |
| 2023-24 | $25,251 | $29,765 | $34,258 | $38,771 |
| 2022-23 | $23,379 | $26,998 | $30,638 | $34,258 |
| 2021-22 | $24,918 | $28,267 | $31,616 | $34,965 |
What the job is
Perform tasks involving physical labor at construction sites. May operate hand and power tools of all types: air hammers, earth tampers, cement mixers, small mechanical hoists, surveying and measuring equipment, and a variety of other equipment and instruments. May clean and prepare sites, dig trenches, set braces to support the sides of excavations, erect scaffolding, and clean up rubble, debris, and other waste materials. May assist other craft workers.
- Preparation
- Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
- O*NET Job Zone 1-2
- DOL's education basis
- None
- Wage year 2026-27
- Jobs, 2025 to 2035
- +7.3%
- About 120,000 openings a year (BLS)
- Typical entry
- No formal educational credential
- BLS
Bright Outlook O*NET OnLine lists this job for rapid growth and numerous job openings.
The work, most important first
- Tend pumps, compressors, or generators to provide power for tools, machinery, or equipment or to heat or move materials, such as asphalt.
- Lubricate, clean, or repair machinery, equipment, or tools.
- Signal equipment operators to facilitate alignment, movement, or adjustment of machinery, equipment, or materials.
- Read plans, instructions, or specifications to determine work activities.
- Measure, mark, or record openings or distances to layout areas where construction work will be performed.
- Clean or prepare construction sites to eliminate possible hazards.
The education workers in it report
- 33%
Less than a High School Diploma
- 35%
High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED)
Titles people use for it
Construction Laborer, Construction Worker, Equipment Operator (EO), Post Framer, Bituminous Asphalt Technician, Drop Crew Laborer, Form Setter, Scaffolding Operator.
Related jobs: Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operators, Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining, Cement Masons and Concrete Finishers, Pipelayers, Structural Iron and Steel Workers, Brickmasons and Blockmasons.
This section includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database and O*NET OnLine by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. PERM Tracker has modified some of this information (the shares are rounded and only the top tasks are shown); what changed. USDOL/ETA has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.
Against other jobs
Where this sits in the ranking
Ranked 89 of 1,410 by volume: 88 filed at least as many filings, and 1,321 filed no more.
- Just above
- Management Analysts 734 filings
- Just below
- Web Developers 698 filings
Other construction and extraction roles
Occupations sharing this one's SOC major group, which is carried in the first two digits of the code. More
Occupations sharing this one's SOC major group, which is carried in the first two digits of the code. Wages inside a group still swing hard, because the group holds every seniority level and every metro.
- #159 Carpenters 303 filings · 17 denied
- #167 First-Line Supervisors of Construction Trades and Extraction Workers 283 filings · 19 denied
- #207 Cement Masons and Concrete Finishers 209 filings · 7 denied
- #224 Construction Laborers 182 filings · 37 denied
- #273 Roofers 126 filings · 6 denied
- #281 Reinforcing Iron and Rebar Workers 118 filings · 3 denied
The same job on H-1B
6 certified H-1B labor condition applications for this occupation since FY2020, offering a median of $32,895 a year; the middle half ran $28,423 to $39,629. By state and year in the salary explorer.
Notes on these numbers
Reading the wage
A floor, not a salary survey: every level and metro mixed. DOL's four wage levels for this job, by area.
What the median is
The median wage employers committed to in federal filings for this occupation. It mixes every experience level and every metro, and it's a floor: the employer must offer at least the prevailing wage DOL determines for the occupation, level and county. Across all PERM filings the middle half of offered wages runs $45,178 to $141,357, so a figure inside that band is unremarkable whichever occupation it belongs to. The levels page reads DOL's OFLC wage search live.
What these numbers don't say
4 notes
- The code is the identity
- This one is SOC 47-2061.00. Two SOC codes can carry the same job title, so a title that looks duplicated on the ranking is two different occupations. Match on the code when you're checking a specific filing.
- A median isn’t an offer
- It's the middle of all 710 wages committed to for this occupation across the country, entry level and principal alike. The same role's medians swing hard by worksite, which the state map shows directly.
- Approval isn’t about the occupation
- The denial rate moves with what happened in the filing rather than with the job title, so nothing here is a property of Construction Laborers. The measured factors are on the denial risk page, published as separate rates.
- Nothing here is pending
- All 710 counted here carry a decision date, because every case in DOL's disclosure files does, so a case still waiting is in none of them. The largest filer of this occupation is JCQ Services, Inc.. Where the queue stands today is on the processing times page.
The window these figures cover: DOL's PERM disclosure files for fiscal years 2024 to 2026, through the third quarter of 2026, 373,939 decided cases. Nothing pending is counted here. How each figure is built
Weighing an offer?
Compare it against this median, then check the state map, where the same occupation's medians swing hard by worksite.
Setting one?
All 1,410 occupations sort together on the wages page, and denial rates show how outcome moves with the offered wage.
Filings newer than DOL's last published file can't be attributed to this occupation until DOL publishes them. The live list on the case search page carries them by employer.
Case data: DOL quarterly disclosure files (flag.dol.gov) · data through Jun 30, 2026 · quarterly
Employers and firms: Derived from DOL's disclosure files · data through Jun 30, 2026 · rebuilt with each quarterly load
O*NET occupation data: O*NET Database, USDOL/ETA (onetcenter.org) · data through Aug 16, 2026 · twice a year
BLS market pay: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (bls.gov) · data through May 31, 2025 · yearly, each spring
BLS employment projections: BLS Employment Projections (bls.gov) · data through Dec 31, 2025 · yearly, each autumn
DOL wage tables: DOL OFLC wage data downloads (flag.dol.gov) · data through Jul 1, 2026 · yearly, each july
What each source includes
Case data: Decided PERM cases only. A case still waiting isn't in here, so counts and durations describe finished cases.
Employers and firms: Employers, law firms and occupations ranked from decided cases only.
O*NET occupation data: What O*NET says each occupation is and takes: its description, tasks, Job Zone and the education workers report. A description of the job everywhere, not of any one employer's opening.
BLS market pay: What employers report paying everyone in each job, nationally, by state and by metro, from BLS's yearly survey (May of the year named). Citizens and immigrants alike; not PERM offers.
BLS employment projections: BLS's ten-year projection of each job's employment and yearly openings, and the entry education it calls typical. A projection, not a count.
DOL wage tables: The four prevailing wage levels DOL publishes for every job in every area, each wage year from 2021-22, as DOL's own tables print them. The floors an offer is held to, not what anyone was paid.
Cite this page
Waiting on a PERM case?
- When it'll likely be decided
- An email when DOL moves it