Construction workers, as a group, are about in the middle of all wage packages compared to other occupations, says a new report by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Spread among 39 construction crafts - that number is inflated with the government's inclusion of groups like "septic tank servicers" and "fence erectors" - construction workers earned an average of $13.91 per hour, or $28,920 per year in 2004. That placed construction workers No. 10 out of 22 wage occupations.

The top-paying occupational area is (surprise!) "chief executives," earning $140,880 per year. At the bottom: "food preparation and serving-related: they earned $8.47 per hour.

Among all U.S. construction workers, including union and nonunion, the highest paid were "elevator installers," earning $28.40 per hour. They're followed by boilermakers ($22.50 per hour); "pile-driver operators" ($21.60); structural iron workers ($20.39); electricians ($20.30) brick masons ($20.14) and plumbers/ pipe fitters/ steamfitters ($20.13).

The disparity between overall U.S. construction workers' wages, and the higher incomes for union-weighted paychecks in Michigan, is obvious. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that in 2004, all union workers earned an average of 21.6 percent more than their nonunion counterparts. Michigan's 21.6 percent unionization rate in 2004 for all workers was the third-highest in the nation