Labor Department to Update Prevailing Wage Laws

Construction Dive

The Department of Labor announced Tuesday that it will publish a rule updating the Davis-Bacon Act, which sets the prevailing wages contractors must pay workers on federal projects.

The rule, first announced in March 2022, will restore the DOL’s definition of prevailing wage to make it equivalent to the wage paid to at least 30% of workers, rather than 50% of workers, in a given trade in a locality, according to a White House fact sheet.

The move is aimed at raising the hourly earnings of workers for prime contractors and subcontractors on projects that receive federal funding through legislation such as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the CHIPS Act, but construction groups said it will raise the cost of infrastructure projects for taxpayers.

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