Frank Manzo IV is the Policy Director of the Illinois Economic Policy Institute (ILEPI). Visit ILEPI at www.illinoisepi.org or follow ILEPI on Twitter @illinoisEPI.

The Illinois Economic Policy Institute (ILEPI) is pleased to announce the launch of @SaveTheWage!

The Save The Wage campaign is led by a coalition of organizations committed to defending Indiana’s Common Construction Wage (also called “CCW” or the “prevailing wage”) from unjustified claims and attacks.

Supported primarily by the Illinois Economic Policy Institute (@IllinoisEPI), Union One (@Union1), and the Indiana, Illinois, Iowa Foundation for Fair Contracting, Save The Wage aims to promote education, awareness, and public discussion around the benefits of the Common Construction Wage to the State of Indiana.

Throughout the country, it has been demonstrated that the benefits of common construction wages and other prevailing wages outweigh any associated costs:

• The most recent study on prevailing wages found that the policy increased worker productivity, prevents a race to the bottom in which lesser-skilled and more injury-prone workers win bids, raises construction earnings by 3.2 percent to 6.5 percent, and saves taxpayers between $10 and $20 million in Kentucky.
• A January 2014 report found that prevailing wage laws increased “construction occupation” worker incomes by just 1.2 percent but had no statistically significant impact on contractor CEO incomes. As a byproduct, prevailing wage laws reduced income inequality by as much as 45 percent in the construction industry.
• A December 2013 report discovered that repealing Illinois’ prevailing wage law would result in a 3,300 net loss of jobs, a $365 million decline in construction worker earnings, an annual contraction of more than $1 billion in the state’s gross domestic product, and a combined $160 million lost in tax revenues.
• An October 2012 study analyzed the bid results from 140 municipal projects built in 2006 and 2007 in five adjacent California cities and found that the absence of prevailing wage regulations does not attract more contractors to bid on a project and does not lead to reduced costs.
• An October 2011 brief reported that repeal of a prevailing wage law results in less workforce training, a younger and lesser-educated workforce, higher injury rates, lower wages, and lower health and pension coverage.

Save The Wage will build upon these and earlier efforts to demonstrate CCW’s value to Indiana.

Support good jobs for Hoosiers. Support quality. Support the economy. Support Common Construction Wage!

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External Links

Illinois Economic Policy Institute: http://www.illinoisepi.org
Indiana, Illinois, Iowa Foundation for Fair Contracting: http://www.iiiffc.org
Union One: http://www.union1.org

Follow Us on Twitter: @SaveTheWage, @IllinoisEPI, @Union1, and III FFC (Facebook).