"Where the escalating has really come about is because the escalation of materials cost due to, again, supply and demand," Steve Holloway, executive vice president of the Associated General Contractors Las Vegas Chapter. "You've got China opening up and other parts of the Third World opening up; there's a huge demand for materials. It's going on everywhere; it's national in scope."

Although materials costs are high, Holloway said labor costs have a major role in overall construction costs. He said that labor costs have gone up but that there won't be a sudden 30 percent to 40 percent spike, as published reports have said.

"We're talking about 25 to 30 percent on union wages, which is (working mostly) on the Strip," Holloway said. "We're not talking about any sudden 30 to 40 percent jump. The biggest escalating cost on construction projects is materials."

According to the Nevada Department of Employment, Training & Rehabilitation, construction workers in Clark County made a weekly average salary of $836 in 2004. That number grew from $821 per week in 2003, $798 per week in 2002 and $765 per week in 2001. Construction jobs in the Las Vegas Valley grew by 16.2 percent or 13,900 jobs between May 2004 and May 2005.

Another industry leading job growth in the Las Vegas Valley is the "other services" sector, which includes repair and maintenance jobs and personal and laundry services jobs, with 16.2 percent job growth between May 2004 and May 2005.

"Sixteen percent job growth is still unbelievable," Jim Shabi, a DETR economist, said.

He said that despite the rapid growth of jobs, wages have been stable in the construction industry.

"The average wage didn't change that much, whether because of union contracts or because of workers coming in with lower experience, we have no way of knowing, but there wasn't any dramatic growth," Shabi said.

Holloway said labor costs, such as wages and health care, account for about 50 percent of the average cost of construction. He said contracts the Associated General Contractors Las Vegas Chapter completed with three local unions this year indicate labor costs are indeed on the rise.

He said contracts with the Laborers Union, the Operative Plasterers & Cement Masons and the Teamsters show a 25-percent to 30-percent increase over the next five years. He said the unions were able to get favorable contracts because of the demand for labor.

"Management couldn't afford to take a strike," Holloway said. "There's just too many projects under way. They didn't get what they were necessarily asking for but they got more than we would have liked to have given them."

He added that more union contracts are set to expire next year and the year after and that he expects those unions to ask for similar increases.

One such union, the Carpenters union, has about 8,000 members in Southern Nevada and that union's contracts expire in 2007.

Jim Sala, director of organizing for Nevada for the Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters, agreed with Holloway's assessment that the major sources of rising construction costs are materials and high-priced land.

He said his union' s three-year contracts, which were reached last year, only call for 12-percent increases overall. He said because the unions have labor contracts with construction contractors their labor costs are steady and don't account for large increases.

He disagreed with Holloway's assessment of how much labor costs impact construction costs. Sala said that in general labor costs make up about 15 to 20 percent of the cost of construction projects.

"When housing costs doubled, our wages didn't," Sala said. "Our wages are inflation rates, 3 to 4 percent. The labor costs are the most stable, the lowest cost of everything in their project."

Don Stormoen, risk safety director for Sasson Hallier Development, which is developing the Panorama Towers condo project, said his biggest cost is materials. He said most of the work performed on his project performed with union labor. He said healthcare costs is a component of wage costs.

"I would say material costs increase faster than wages," Stormoen said. "Certainly healthcare costs when they rise they impact wages. For a union job that's part of the package. I don't see a 30 percent rise in wages."

He also said his contractors experience difficulty finding qualified workers.

"With unemployment being at its lowest level, our biggest challenge for contractors is to find qualified help," Stormoen said. "A lot of people show up with a five gallon bucket and a hammer and call themselves qualified."

Holloway said that non-union wages have risen faster than union wages.

"Over the last few years there's been more wage growth in non-union than union," Holloway said. "(For union workers) it's been more incremental, and generally they're paid more and generally the benefits are better. More employers are forced to provide better benefits and better wages because of the shortage of workers."

Richard Thomas, vice president of framing subcontractor Gary G. Day Construction, said wages depend on each workers' experience and skills. The company is a non-union homebuilder.

"Most of the framing contractors in town are piece workers," Thomas said. "We pay piece prices. I have guys working for us that may make $400 a week and others that make $1800 a week. It depends on knowledge and skill and how fast a worker is."

Shabi said the number of jobs created in the construction industry is expected to continue growing because of the number of major projects that are on the horizon such as MGM Mirage's $4.7 billion Project CityCenter.

"They're talking several thousand construction jobs on that project and several thousand permanent jobs out there," Shabi said. "That's going to be a big employment generator. It's going to help prolong the construction boom."

Alana Roberts covers courts and labor relations for In Business Las Vegas and its sister publication, the Las Vegas Sun. She can be reached by e-mail at alanar@lasvegassun.com or at (702) 259-4059.