UU, Biz Groups Push Back On Effort To Expand Prevailing Wage Mandate
March 19th, 2018
Eighteen business and taxpayer groups from across New York State expressed their universal and unified opposition to any expansion of New York State’s wildly expensive and antiquated “prevailing wage” mandate to private development projects.
According to a 2017 report published by the Empire Center, New York’s prevailing wage mandate increases the costs of construction projects by as much as 25 percent.
The way New York State’s prevailing wage is currently calculated increases the cost of public construction projects like roads, bridges and schools by as much as 25 percent, according to a 2017 report published by the Empire Center.
Applying this cost driving mandate to private construction projects will simply stop economic development dead in its tracks across Upstate.
From the Albany Business Review: “Proposed prevailing wage law would hurt upstate construction, business groups say.”
With hundreds of millions of infrastructure investment for our roads, bridges, subway and water systems needed over the next decade, New York should look to reform prevailing wage to ensure it is actually reflective of median regional wage rates, not look to extend this wildly expensive mandate to private projects.