November 6-8 at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta

According to the latest Contractor Compensation Quarterly (CCQ) published by PAS, Inc., Open Shop contractors anticipate skilled craft hourly wage increases of 4.45% in 2023 (4.30% excluding zeros). Actual increases for 2022 were 5.02% (including zeros) and 5.10% (excluding zeros). These increases are across the board for all craft, contractor types, sizes, and regions of the country. WorldatWork reports 2023 actual construction increases at 4.4%. Historically, projected numbers are slightly lower than the actual year end figure.

Tuesday, November 14, 2023 | 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM (ET)

The U.S. Department of Labor’s massive final rule “Updating the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts Regulations” takes effect on all new contracts awarded on and after October 23, with limited exceptions.

12 Additional Federally Funded Projects Designated

In its latest Settlements Report, the AGC-supported Construction Labor Research Council (CLRC) advises that construction-industry collective bargaining agreements settled from January through September of 2023 provide an average 4.6 percent increase in the first contract year. The CLRC notes that the multi-year settlements are now seeing the full effects of the surge in inflation. Because most unions will have negotiated new rates by the end of 2025, the CLRC projects that the steep growth in increases will slow. Measured by dollar value, the first-year increases during the first part of 2023 was $2.97, a substantial $1.32 jump from 2020. The CLRC projects first-year increases to average $3.40 in 2025. Regionally every region except New England has seen increases and nearly every craft has seen increases, some with notable increases.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced a proposal to Define and Delimit the Exemptions for Executive, Administrative, Professional, Outside Sales, and Computer Employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The Associated General Contractors of America recently urged the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Wage and Hour Division to abandon or at least postpone issuance of this anticipated proposed rulemaking. The DOL last updated these regulations as recently as 2019, going into effect in 2020, which strongly suggests there is no need for urgency in issuing more changes.

U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently provided a private member only virtual update on the changes in their massive final rule “Updating the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts Regulations.” Specifically, Jessica Looman, Principal Deputy Administrator for the Wage and Hour Division (WHD), and additional WHD officials provided a topline review of the final rule and fielded a number of questions from attendees. A copy of the slides can be found here. While we expected more clarity from the DOL, instead they mostly directed people to the preamble of the rule for further clarification. While the WHD has provided limited resources and is offering several webinars on September 14th and 13th, no further guidance is expected before the effective date of October 23, 2023. More information and webinar links can be found here.