WORKERS PRICING THEMSELVES RIGHT OUT OF JOBS, AND NO END IN SIGHT TO JOB LOSSES DUE TO UNREASONABLE MANDATED WAGE RATES

PREVAILING WAGE RATES, is an interesting term used by local municipalities and federal agencies to determine the wages that MUST be paid to employees working on such projects.

That term is very misleading, as it tends to purport that these are the wages paid to persons in certain industries in that area, and are real JOB KILLERS!

Just for curiosity, we checked the local PREVAILING WAGES for our county and discovered why costs to build a road or building were so high! For instance, a BUILDING OPERATING ENGINEER, was to be paid $48.10 per hour, plus 2x that rate for overtime, plus $11.70 per hour for heath and welfare, plus $8.05 for pension, plus $1.90 vacation and plus $1.15 for training! That is EXCLUDING THE FICA TAXES and unemployment taxes.

This is a total of $70.90 an hour for this employee, excluding the additional employer costs of workman's compensation, and unemployment insurance which realistically adds another $10 an hour or so.

Therefore the basic annual cost of one employee is $168,272 !

Can this rate be sustainable to build any projects that are built for the government? Now do you know why costs are so high?

can this employee be continued to be employed if he works on any but government projects? No, he can not be hired and actually work at a business that expects to provide an ongoing building business.

The prevailing wages for someone who holds up the STOP and SLOW sign on highways, gets $24.20 an hour, plus $3.78 for health and welfare, plus $1.87 for pension, totaling $29.85 an hour, plus the unemployment taxes for another $5 an hour or so, for a basic annual wage of $72,488!!!!

Can we afford it?

Over 2/3 0f the states will have significant deficits, now you know why.

This is no way to protect jobs, but acts as simply an artificial wage that does not reflect market forces, and provides no incentive for employers to increase the employee counts.