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Abstract
The word subcontract was used as a noun was in 1660, subcontracting was clearly a common labor system in the Pennsylvania iron industry by 1720s. Subcontracting has been the common practice in construction industry for a long time. The purpose of using subcontracting in construction industry is either to reduce costs or mitigate project risks. 1930 the first census of the contracting group of the construction industry was inaugurated as part of the decennial census, therefore, we use the data of the first census to analyze the U.S. construction industry’s subcontract structure and the relative factors that can influence the subcontract structure, and get some conclusions, such as, increasing subcontract will decrease compensation and insurance expense; if the average wage of the workers is high, it will promote subcontract behavior.