Walker Kills more Jobs, good paying ones, when he repeals Prevailing Wage Law.

Why are we debating prevailing wage, when the concept behind it is so easy to figure. Common sense apparently isn't enough, especially for republicans who don't need a reason anymore to do whatever the hell they want.

Proven wrong again...

But now we finally have research that delves deep into the effects of prevailing wage.

It's interesting to note the rightwing loony tune "fellows" at the MacIver Institute came out with the headline story pictured here, a day after the research below nuked their wildly inaccurate conclusions. There will always be a whole bunch of low information voters who will their propaganda:

New Research Exposes Folly of Wisconsin's Prevailing Wage Repeal Proposal: Just completed research by Colorado State University Economist Kevin Duncan and Smart Cities Prevail Researcher Alex Lantsberg reveals that Wisconsin’s proposed prevailing wage repeal (AB 32) will cost the state nearly 9,000 jobs, $1.2 billion in economic output, $77 million in tax revenue, and will export an estimated $500 million in construction investments out of state.

The study uses data from the Economic Census of Construction and industry standard IMPLAN software to compare and model spending shifts in public construction that occur in prevailing wage and non-prevailing wage states. Factors include the economic ripple effect that wages have on spending, job creation, and tax revenue; industry responses to wage rates in terms of workforce productivity and worksite efficiency; and rates of in-state vs. out-of-state contracting on public works.

“The data clearly shows that repealing prevailing wage in Wisconsin will have no effect on project costs—but it will eliminate thousands of jobs across all economic sectors, suppress economic output, necessitate millions in cuts to other public services, lead to reduced productivity and efficiency at the job site, and export hundreds of millions of construction dollars out of state,” said Lantsberg. “Repeal will benefit are those who live in states other than Wisconsin.”

In their research, Lantsberg and Duncan devote an entire section to debunking the myth of cost savings by repeal proponents, noting that lower wage standards will deprive Wisconsin of favorable industry responses from prevailing wage standards. In Wisconsin’s case, this includes a 7% increase in worksite productivity and 2% reduction in materials and fuels usage rates that come from employing higher skilled, local workers.

“These factors would, by themselves, more than exhaust any savings realized from imposing lower wages—especially since labor (wages and benefits) comprise less than 20% of the total cost of any public construction project,” Duncan added. “Ultimately, over ten years, this measure will not save money, but it will reduce real income to Wisconsin families by $5.1 billion, shrink Wisconsin's economy by another $12 billion, and degrade the quality of construction on highways, schools, hospitals, and other public works. The facts are clear—repeal of prevailing wage in Wisconsin is just bad policy.”