New prevailing wage rates adopted in Missouri

New prevailing wage rates for construction workers employed on Missouri public works projects were adopted by the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations last week.

Annual Wage Order No. 16, which took effect May 7, contains prevailing wage rates for 26 different occupational titles and their subgroups in Missouri's 114 counties and the city of St. Louis. The prevailing wage is the minimum rate that must be paid to workers on publicly funded construction projects in Missouri, such as bridges, roads and government buildings.

County prevailing wage rates for employees in building construction and heavy construction trades can be viewed at the link below.

"Prevailing wage promotes and protects economic stability," DOLIR Director Larry Rebman said in a news release. "It is crucial during these tough economic times (that) Missourians working on public-benefiting projects get paid the wages they deserve."

DOLIR's Division of Labor Standards is responsible for gathering wage information from public and private commercial construction projects statewide on an ongoing basis from contractors, labor organizations and public entities. The largest number of hours reported at a given wage rate for a specific occupation in each county becomes the prevailing wage rate in that county.

Employees working on public work projects who are not receiving prevailing wage rates can file a complaint by sending an e-mail to prevailingwage@dolir.mo.gov or calling (573) 751-3403.