I’m sure there is a different interpretation in every state but here is what ‘prevailing wage’ means in English in the State of Nevada.
Prevailing Wage - The highest wage paid for any similar work during the past two years.
Is that definition in law? No. Is that how the unions require the state operate? Yes.
And in Nevada, it is required (back when the Dems ran everything) by law that all public construction jobs pay the ‘prevailing wage’. And somehow, they all end up being union contractors who get the bids. And subsequently we end up paying 40% extra to build the dozen schools in Las Vegas each year.
Unions may be a small percentage of the entire workforce but they derive their power from the fact that they are attached at the hip to the government and the government controls the largest contracts. I’d be happy to be in any business where I’m only a small player but I have a lock on the largest client in the state.
Prevailing wage, including fringes, is published by feds and state according to labor catagory and is usually tied to the union scale.
Well stated reply. Prevailing wage laws are abominations. These laws aid and abet union strangleholds on government contracts at all levels. In addition, these contracts impact many quasi public sector projects in which local politicians collude with businesses on major projects. Conservatives have tried to change these laws for many years without success.