What is the Prevailing Wage Law?

Prevailing Wage is a standard pay rate paid to a construction worker by geographic region on publicly financed projects such as roads, bridges, and schools. The Prevailing Wage law allows for self-funded apprenticeship training programs that are rigorous and hands-on. It also allows skilled workers to be continually retrained. With Prevailing Wage, Michigan’s skilled tradespeople can get the job done on-time, with quality craftsmanship and most importantly, safely. 

Projects such as the Flint’s Bishop International Airport, the Michigan State Police headquarters, Oakland University’s medical school, and other major projects at state universities were all built using Michigan’s Prevailing Wage law.

Send a message to your Representative

---

What's at stake?

Senate Bills 1, 2 & 3 would lower the pay of Michigan’s construction workers and reduce training for skilled trades men and women by eliminating the state’s Prevailing Wage law. We should be working to close the skills gap and make sure good jobs stay here instead of sending them to out-of-state contractors and workers who don’t contribute to Michigan’s economy.

Let’s keep good jobs and highly trained workers where they belong, right here in Michigan.

---

Did you know?

• 32 out of 50 states have prevailing wage laws.

• 25% Lower Construction Related Fatalities In States with Prevailing Wage * The Bureau of Labor Statistics, Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses, 1976-99
• 90's School Construction Costs Raised Less Than 1%  From Michigan’s Prevailing Wage  * Phillips, Peter, Ph.D., A Comparison of Public School Construction Costs, February, 2001

​ Valid research based on real-world experience including the lessons learned from states that have repealed prevailing wage laws shows that repealing prevailing wage leads to:

• Less workforce training
• Less educated and less experienced workforce
• Higher injury rates
• Increased law suits
• Less than middle-class wages
• Lower health and pension coverage

---

What is the impact?

Michigan’s prevailing wage law helps hard-working, skilled local workers on public construction projects earn a decent wage to support their families. The law directly benefits our local economy by creating jobs, generating economic activity and growing the local tax base. Prevailing wage construction projects support apprenticeship and job training programs that provide Michiganders with middle class career options.  


Without Prevailing Wage laws these educational programs will suffer. Michigan’s economy is finally turning around, and prevailing wages help foster a skilled workforce and further strengthen our great state. Prevailing Wage laws promote competition and rewards productivity, value and quality. Most importantly, it rewards contractors who do quality work rather than those who simply pay the lowest wages.