State Prevailing Wage Laws and School Construction Costs

In 2015, the State of Nevada reduced prevailing wage rates on education-related construction to 90 percent of the applicable rate for other state-funded construction. The examination of projects built for Clark County School District between 2009 and 2108 indicates that Nevada’s wage policy has no statistically significant effect on school construction costs or bid competition, taking into consideration bids placed before and after the 2015 policy change. However, prevailing wage reductions on education projects motivated union contractors to pursue other opportunities as Nevada’s building industry expanded after 2015. Reduced participation in district bidding by union contractors contributed to a 25-percent overall decrease in bid competition and a 20-percent increase in bid costs following the 2015 policy change. While the goal of the 90-percent prevailing wage rule was to reduce the cost of building public schools, unforeseen consequences contributed to decreased bid competition and increased construction costs.

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Prevailing Wage Laws and Construction Costs: Evidence from British Columbia's Skills Development and Fair Wage Policy

The Economics of Prevailing Wage Laws ◽

10.4324/9781315240107-12 ◽

2017 ◽

pp. 131-156

Keyword(s):

Skills Development ◽

Wage Policy ◽

Construction Costs ◽

Prevailing Wage ◽

Fair Wage

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A Seismic Retrofit Cost Database for Buildings with a Framed Structure

Earthquake Spectra ◽

10.1193/080713eqs226 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 30 (2) ◽

pp. 625-637 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Reza Jafarzadeh ◽

Jason M. Ingham ◽

Suzanne Wilkinson

Keyword(s):

Seismic Retrofit ◽

Seismic Retrofitting ◽

School Construction ◽

Existing Buildings ◽

Construction Costs ◽

The World ◽

Data Points ◽

Key Variables ◽

Data Collection Effort ◽

Specific Challenge

A comprehensive database for the specific challenge of cost prediction when undertaking seismic retrofitting of existing buildings is presented. A rigorous data collection effort performed in Iran resulted in the generation of a database of 158 data points, each pertaining to a public school building with a framed structure. The generated database includes the information on the seismic retrofit cost values reflected in construction tender documents, together with the information on 14 variables envisaged to have a degree of influence on this cost. This information for a given building was carefully elicited from the final enacted documents developed through the seismic retrofit study of that particular school. Construction costs include structural costs and the costs of architecture and finishes. The database could be of value to those attempting to determine key variables that influence retrofit cost, or to those comparing retrofit practices and costs in different areas of the world.

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The Effects of Prevailing Wage Requirements on the Cost of Low-Income Housing

ILR Review ◽

10.1177/001979390505900108 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 59 (1) ◽

pp. 141-157 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Sarah Dunn ◽

John M. Quigley ◽

Larry A. Rosenthal

Keyword(s):

Low Income ◽

Geographical Location ◽

Tax Credit ◽

Construction Costs ◽

Prevailing Wage ◽

Econometric Evidence ◽

Project Characteristics ◽

The Cost ◽

Residential Projects ◽

Low Income Housing

Recent California legislation extends the application of prevailing wage regulations to construction workers building subsidized low-income residential projects. Econometric evidence based on micro data covering 205 residential projects subsidized by the California Low Income Housing Tax Credit since 1996 and completed by mid-2002 demonstrates that construction costs increased substantially under prevailing wage requirements. Estimates of additional construction costs in the authors' most extensive models range from 9% to 37%. The analysis controls for variations in cost by geographical location and for differences in project characteristics, financing, and developer attributes. The authors estimate the effect of uniform imposition of these regulations on the number of new dwellings for low-income households produced under the tax credit program in California. Under reasonable assumptions, the mid-range estimate of the prospective decrease exceeds 3, 100 units per year.

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What Does the Research Tell Us about Prevailing Wage Laws?

Labor Studies Journal ◽

10.1177/0160449x18766398 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 44 (2) ◽

pp. 139-160 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Kevin Duncan ◽

Russell Ormiston

Keyword(s):

Federal Government ◽

Construction Workers ◽

Worker Safety ◽

Policy Debate ◽

Construction Costs ◽

Prevailing Wage ◽

And Training

This paper reviews the research on prevailing wage laws. These policies establish location and job-specific minimum compensation rates for construction workers and apply to projects funded by the federal government, twenty-seven states, and numerous municipalities. Prevailing wage laws are controversial and are a source of ongoing policy debate. To better inform this debate this review finds that the most methodologically advanced research generally indicates that prevailing wage laws do not affect construction costs, promote worker safety and training, and do not have a racially discriminatory impact.

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