Prevailing wage laws establish minimum wages for skilled construction workers employed on taxpayer-funded projects. The main purpose of prevailing wage laws is to protect local construction standards in the competitive low-bid process. The laws create a level playing field for all construction contractors by ensuring that public expenditures maintain and reflect local market standards for compensation and craftsmanship. As of 2023, a total of 28 states plus the District of Columbia have prevailing wage laws. Between 2015 and 2018, however, six states—Indiana, West Virginia, Kentucky, Arkansas, Wisconsin, and Michigan—repealed their prevailing wage laws. This report utilizes data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics at the U.S. Department of Labor to compare construction market outcomes in states that repealed their prevailing wage laws to those that maintained their prevailing wage laws.
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