NEW YORK CITY—The city's construction sector, which was battered during the recession, has recovered to a level where industry employment in Q1 came in at the second highest level in a quarter century, according to a new report.

The New York Building Congress states that in 2014 private sector construction employment in New York City rose by a 4.5% clip as compared to a year earlier and was 10% higher than employment totals in 2012. The Building Congress report was based on an analysis of New York State Department of Labor employment statistics.

Construction employment rose slightly in the first quarter of 2015, with 121,200 private sector jobs compared to 119,600 jobs in the first three months of 2014. This year's first quarter employment total was the second highest in the last 25 years, bested only by the 128,300 jobs produced in the first quarter of 2008.

“All of those cranes that are dotting the skyline, as well as the sidewalk bridges that have proliferated throughout the five boroughs, represent thousands of good paying jobs for New York City residents,” says Building Congress president Richard T. Anderson. “Like overall spending, the recent data on employment serve as indications of a construction market that is even stronger than we anticipated last fall. If the trend continues in 2015, we can expect to see construction employment reach 130,000 for just the second time in this decade.”

While the industry is enjoying robust job growth, the same cannot be said for wages as construction workers, like many other employment sectors, are suffering from stagnant earnings.

Average wages earned by construction workers in the private sector rose less than 1% in the first nine months of 2014. Construction workers in New York City earned an average of $52,300 through September 2014, compared to $52,000 for the same period in 2013, and $51,200 during the first nine months of 2012. Given that earnings are generally the greatest in the fourth quarter due to year-end bonuses, it is assumed that annual earnings in 2014 will end up in the $73,000 range, as was the case in 2013.In 2012, earnings for the entire year averaged $71,800 per worker, the Building Congress reports.

Those involved in heavy and civil engineering construction were the highest paid workers, averaging $107,900 in 2013, up from $101,600 in 2012 and $97,500 in 2011.