Study: Prevailing wages don’t increase costs
http://www.thestand.org/2016/02/study-prevailing-wages-dont-increase-costs/?can_id=56238df60afa50719a42d93fd98f7e8b&s
As policy debates rage in states from Michigan and New Hampshire to New Mexico and West Virginia, researchers from the Illinois Economic Policy Institute, Colorado State University-Pueblo, and Smart Cities Prevail have just completed the first ever national study on the economic, social, and project cost impacts of state prevailing wage laws. The report finds that these standards do not increase overall construction costs and that repeal of prevailing wage laws costs taxpayers by increasing reliance on government assistance and social safety nets.
The report, entitled The Economic, Fiscal, and Social Impacts of State Prevailing Wage Laws: Choosing Between the High Road and the Low Road in the Construction Industry, utilizes industry standard IMPLAN modeling software and industry comparisons between states with and without prevailing wage laws to assess the impact of these policies on a variety of economic and social factors: including job creation, wages, worksite productivity, rates of in-state contracting, impacts on taxpayers, reliance on government assistance programs, and effects on communities of color and veterans.