Killing Wage Law Helps Budget & Creates Jobs
According to the Detroit News:
In the wake of the recent budget fiasco, lawmakers seeking strategies to balance Michigan's budget should consider a repeal of the state's prevailing wage law, a special-interest giveaway that costs state taxpayers $250 million each year.
In effect since 1965, the prevailing wage law adds a quarter of a billion dollars annually to the cost of state construction projects, according to a 2007 study by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. The law forces independent construction companies to raise their costs and charge taxpayers more to complete a project.
Eighteen states do not have prevailing wage laws. Among them are the four states with the highest percentage of economic growth -- Arizona, Idaho, Oklahoma and Utah -- according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. By contrast, the four slowest-growing (or in Michigan's case, shrinking) states -- Michigan, West Virginia, Alaska and Ohio (school construction exempted) -- have prevailing wage laws...click to continue.
