CAP’s January 19th article “Raising Wages and Narrowing Pay Gaps With Service Sector Prevailing Wage Laws” quotes the latest Project for Middle Class Renewal report on the impact of prevailing wage laws on custodial workers.
New research by Frank Manzo of the Illinois Economic Policy Institute and Robert Bruno of the University of Illinois on the effects of state service sector prevailing wage laws from 2017 to 2019 finds that these laws boost wages and health insurance coverage for janitorial workers and custodians. It provides the most concrete evidence to date on the impacts of prevailing wage laws on service workers. These laws have seen relatively little research despite the extensive literature on the prevailing wage laws common in the construction sector. Controlling for a variety of both state-level and worker-level factors, Manzo and Bruno found service sector prevailing wage laws currently in place have the following effects on workers:
- They support higher wages for janitors and custodians.
- They increase the rates of employer-provided health insurance coverage.
- They help narrow the racial pay gaps among janitors and custodians.
In addition, the authors of the study found that these benefits have little impact on employment. Based on these findings, policymakers should implement prevailing wage laws to ensure government spending does not drive down local standards and instead supports good jobs.
Read the article here.
Read the PMCR report here.