New Study Finds That Repeal of Wisconsin Prevailing Wage Law Led to Lower Wages for Construction Workers
A new study from the Midwest Economic Policy Institute (MEPI) found that the repeal of Wisconsin’s prevailing wage laws resulted in lower wages for construction workers in Wisconsin, despite having no statistically significant impact on the cost of public construction projects.
Specifically, the study shows that before the prevailing wage laws were repealed, the average annual income for full-time construction and extraction workers was close to $49,000. After the laws were repealed, average annual income was a little over $46,000, a drop of more than 5 percent. When the study removed factors such as education and age, the average annual income for workers was 6 percent less than income pre-repeal. The report also showed that, following repeal, there was a decrease in the likelihood that skilled construction workers had employer-sponsored health insurance.
You can read the full report here.
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