[1]: 1 Prevailing wages are established by regulatory agencies for each trade and occupation employed in the performance of public work,[2] as well as by State Departments of Labor or their equivalents.
As of 2016, the prevailing wage requirement, codified in the Davis–Bacon Act, increases the cost of federal construction projects by an average of $1.4 billion per year.
[3]: 1 "Prevailing wages" were first established shortly after the Civil War in 1866 when the National Labor Union called on Congress to mandate an eight-hour workday.
In the midst of the Great Depression, beginning in 1931 and prior to the end of World War II, twenty additional states passed their own prevailing wage laws.
In 1931 Congress passed the Davis–Bacon Act after 14 earlier attempts, the Federal Prevailing Wage law that remains in force, bar a few suspensions, to this day.
[1]: 1 A 2020 UC Berkeley study of government subsidized affordable housing projects in California found that prevailing wage requirements increased the cost of construction by 13%, or $50,000 per unit.
[12] Supporters point to research indicating that "prevailing wage laws boost worker productivity, reduce injury rates, and increase apprenticeship training, which helps to address the shortage of skilled labor in construction" and additional argue that prevailing wage requirements narrows racial pay gaps.