The Davis-Bacon Act Should Be Repealed

The Davis-Bacon Act requires that each contract for the construction, alteration, or repair of public buildings in excess of $2,000, to which the United States is a party or shares the financing, must state the minimum wages to be paid to various classes of laborers and mechanics. The minimum wages are those determined by the Secretary of Labor to be prevailing for laborers employed on projects of a similar character in the area in which the work is to be performed. The act was intended to discourage nonlocal contractors from successfully bidding on government projects by hiring cheap labor from outside the project area, thus disrupting the prevailing local wage structure. In 1977, about $172.5 billion was spent on new public and private construction projects, but only $37.8 billion was for direct federal or federally assisted construction spent by state and local agencies, involving about 22 percent of the nation's 3.8 million construction workers. The remaining $134.7 billion was for privately financed projects without the prevailing wage protection of the Davis-Bacon Act.