Hourly earnings growth in the Construction sector hit 5% in June, reaching the highest level since 2011.

That’s according to the latest Paychex/IHS Markit Small Business Employment Watch, which started in 2011. Overall average hourly earnings growth for the month stood at 5.10%, compared to 5.16% from May 2022.  This was the first decline in hourly earnings growth since May 2021. Hourly earnings have increased $1.48 during the past year, now reaching $30.42.

The report shows that small businesses continued to add jobs in June and worker wages continued to grow at a strong rate, but the pace of growth moderated slightly from previous month, The Small Business Jobs Index for June was 100.81, up 2.32% from over a year ago and down 0.06% from the previous month. Small business job growth remains at its highest pre-pandemic level since June 2016, despite slowing for the fourth consecutive month.

"The small business economy still is in recovery phase with continued job gains, and, surprisingly, moderating wage gains," said James Diffley, chief regional economist at IHS Markit.

The South continued as the top region for small business job growth, with Texas and Dallas leading among states and metros, respectively. The South was also the top region for hourly earnings growth. Ohio was the top state for hourly earnings growth, followed closely by Arizona and Florida.

"Our June report shows continued job growth for small businesses," said Paychex CEO Martin Mucci. “The pace of that growth slowed slightly from the previous month, however. Despite this, growth remains strong, above five percent."