Davis-Bacon Prevailing Wage Determinations Should Be Calculated Fairly
The Davis-Bacon Act requires Contractors on all Federal construction projects to pay their workers the prevailing wage in the same locality. The law is intended to ensure that the government's buying power does not drive down construction workers' wages.
The Wage and Hour Division (WHD) of the Department of Labor calculates the prevailing construction wage rates in each county in the United States, and federal contractors must pay these rates. However, the WHD uses a survey methodology that is fundamentally flawed, which means that Davis- Bacon rates often bear no relation to market wages.
Many States have adopted their own Davis-Bacon Laws commonly called Baby-Bacons, the majority of which suffer the same unfair and flawed wage determination methodology that plaques the Federal Law. Read Analysis