WASHINGTON – Construction workers could see their wages increase under the Biden administration’s plan to update a federal labor rule.
Vice President Kamala Harris will announce at an event in Philadelphia on Tuesday that the Department of Labor is preparing to issue a final rule to update the Davis-Bacon Act. The federal law was created in 1931 and requires the payment of prevailing wage rates to all laborers and mechanics on federal or federally assisted construction contracts.
Senior administration officials who previewed the rule update on the condition of anonymity said the change will be the most significant update to the prevailing wage standards in 40 years and will put thousands of extra dollars into workers’ pockets every year.
The change, which is supported by labor unions, coincides with President Joe Biden’s push to rebuild the nation’s crumbling infrastructure and could put under a microscope southern states that historically pay lower wages and have fewer worker protections.
Prevailing wages are the basic hourly rate of pay and benefits paid to workers in a particular area. The update will raise the minimum wage regulations that currently affect more than 1 million construction workers, most of whom do not have a college degree, the officials said.
The Davis-Bacon Act and its related acts apply to more than $200 billion in federal and federally assisted projects every year. Opponents argue the new rule would cost taxpayers more money because it would make...
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