Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) has released its annual update to “Building America: The Merit Shop Scorecard”, a report which examines state-level policy environments and how they influence the success – or failure – of a free enterprise environment for construction companies.
The highest-scoring states on the card are those where merit shop contractors are well positioned to succeed based on their policies on prevailing wage, project labor agreement (PLA) mandates, and Right to Work status. Other contributing factors include the quality of their career and technical education (CTE) opportunities and results, their use of public-private partnerships (P3s), and their commitment to a well-trained workforce.
Virginia has moved from second to first place on the 2017 scorecard, while Arkansas rocketed from 20th place to second and Arizona remained near the top at third. ABC attributes the leap in Arkansas’s rating to the state’s recent full repeal of prevailing wage. Wisconsin has also climbed by 10 spots over the last two years due to progress on its policies, while Kentucky moved from 32 to 21 in one year after it repealed prevailing wage laws and enacted Right to Work policies.
On the flipside, ABC has ranked Illinois, Washington, and New York as the three worst environments for merit shop contractors. None of these states have a Right to Work law, and all have prevailing wage mandates. They have also received poor marks for their workforce development projects.
“ABC is committed to promoting free enterprise-based policies that will improve business climates and ensure a level playing field for all contractors,” says Ben Brubeck, ABC Vice President of Regulatory, Labor and State Affairs. “We believe that the Merit Shop Scorecard can help promote policies that will attract additional business investment and benefit state economies as a whole by providing valuable information for policymakers, contractors, construction users and other industry stakeholders while focusing on specific areas where strategic improvements can be made.”
According to the merit shop philosophy, people and companies succeed based on free enterprise principles within a free market system with diverse participants and open and fair competition. Those who believe in the merit shop philosophy believe employees and employers have the right to determine wages and working conditions, whether by individual or collective bargaining within the law.
The full scorecard, including criteria and definitions, is available at meritshopscorecard.org . It is regularly updated with state construction unemployment rate estimates by economist Bernard Markstein, Ph.D.
