Keep Prevailing Wage Out of Private Construction

As budget negotiations heat up in Albany, one misguided proposal keeps resurfacing: expanding prevailing wage mandates to private construction projects that receive any level of public assistance. This idea may sound like a win for workers on the surface, but in practice, it’s a recipe for higher costs, fewer jobs, and slower development—especially when New York is in the middle of an affordability crisis.

New York already has one of the most complex and expensive prevailing wage systems in the country. Applying those mandates to private work, including housing, commercial developments, and infrastructure projects that receive even modest public support, would stifle economic activity and discourage investment.

Construction costs could rise by 20–30% under expanded prevailing wage. That kind of increase doesn’t come out of thin air—it gets passed on to taxpayers, renters, and small businesses. Fewer projects would pencil out. Nonprofit developers trying to build affordable housing would face impossible math. Small and minority contractors—who often can’t absorb the compliance costs tied to prevailing wage—would be pushed out of the market altogether.

The state tried a similar approach in 2020, creating a Public Subsidy Board to determine when prevailing wage should apply to subsidized private projects. That board has been slow, often deadlocked, and ineffective. Now, some in the Legislature want to override it entirely and force new mandates into the budget with no debate.

That’s not how smart policymaking works. New York needs to focus on making it easier—not harder—to build. Expanding prevailing wage to private work would move us in the wrong direction.

Let’s keep housing affordable, protect small contractors, and stop this harmful provision from being snuck into the state budget.