In ‘a moment of urgency,’ construction worker pay and training take center stage in Pa.

It’s been nearly two years since a $1 trillion federal infrastructure package became law. It promised the biggest burst of infrastructure spending the country had seen in decades, including billions of dollars for projects in the Philadelphia region.

As that money has been given out to specific projects, some of it will translate into worker paychecks. State and federal leaders are looking to increase the number of people who get those jobs, emphasizing construction work as a path to middle-class living.

Vice President Kamala Harris came to Philadelphia on Tuesday to spread that message, along with Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su.

Meanwhile, locally, Gov. Josh Shapiro on Tuesday announced new grants for training programs, and last week he announced a new program that will give money to organizations that hire new trade workers. It could result in the hiring of as many as 10,000 new tradespeople, he said. This program is the first of its kind in the nation, according to Shapiro.

“We have a historic opportunity to build infrastructure that will connect our communities, spur economic development, and create opportunity for generations to come — but we need the workforce to do that work,” Shapiro said last week.

Hiring in the construction industry hasn’t kept up with the number of job openings available. Su, in an interview with The Inquirer, argued that effective workforce training programs and secure jobs that pay well.

“We see this as a moment of urgency,” Su said. “But there’s also a recognition that to rebuild the infrastructure of a country — that’s the physical infrastructure and the social and economic infrastructure — is not something that happens overnight. So we’re going to stay at it to align all the pieces to make sure that we get it done.”

Harris and Su’s Philadelphia visit on Tuesday coincided with the U.S. Department of Labor announcing a new rule that promises to increase pay for construction workers on federally funded projects.

The rule will update prevailing wage standards set under the Davis-Bacon Act and related laws, and will apply to tens of billions of dollars of federally funded construction projects annually.

Su said the rule impacts an estimated 1.2 million construction workers directly, but that number is hard to pin down because current investments in infrastructure projects are likely to increase the number of U.S. construction workers.

“We are in this period of taking the investments that the president worked with Congress to get across the line and putting them out into communities,” Su said.

Because those projects will need workers, it became a top priority to ensure that workforce is paid well, she said. But it’s also “a long game,” she added. The Davis-Bacon Act hadn’t been touched in decades, and she expects the latest change to also be long-lasting.

The Davis-Bacon Act update was proposed in 2021. It applies to contractors who are hired on federally funded projects, and requires that they pay the local prevailing wage to workers on those projects.

Since the 1980s, prevailing wage for a trade was equal to the wage paid to at least 50% of the workers in that trade in a given locality. If no wage level was that popular, the default prevailing wage was instead the average wage for that trade in that locality. The Biden administration has argued that this method could cause the prevailing wage to be pulled down by employers who pay less.

Under the new rule, the prevailing wage for a trade will be equal to the wage paid to at least 30% of the workers in that trade in a given locality.

The rule update also gives the Department of Labor additional ways to update wage rates over time, and more enforcement power, including protections for workers who blow the whistle on employers who violate the rule.

“It’s about empowering workers and making sure that workers are paid a fair wage and that federal construction dollars aren’t bringing down local wages,” Su said.

Asked why the new prevailing wage rule was announced officially in Philadelphia, Su pointed to local projects and elected leaders.

“Philadelphia has been a city where there is a great deal of infrastructure investments being made,” she said. “There’s also great local leadership, state leadership, to do this the right way to make sure that these are good jobs and that all communities have access to those jobs.”

At the state level, Gov. Josh Shapiro is making efforts to incentivize unions and employers to train and hire new trade workers.

Last week, Shapiro created a program that will provide up to $40,000 for every new worker hired by organizations that were hired to do projects under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act or the Inflation Reduction Act. That money can be used for wages, payroll taxes and training costs.

Trevor Monk, press secretary for the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, said the program “will prioritize opening doors for new employees – particularly those who have too often been left out – and putting them directly into on-the-job training and on a path to good-paying jobs.”

With $400 million set aside for the program, it could help fund the creation of up to 10,000 jobs, the Shapiro administration said, calling it the “largest infusion in funding for workforce training in Pennsylvania history.”

Shapiro on Tuesday announced nearly $400,000 in grants to pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs, including IBEW Local 98′s training program for women in electrical work, called “Rosie’s Girls.”

Su noted local workforce programs are one “tool in our toolbox” as the Biden administration seeks to fulfill the promises of its infrastructure plan. Effective workforce development, she said, is “training tied to actual in-demand jobs.” She also emphasized the importance of equity-focused efforts, pointing to examples of a training program for women and another for African American high schoolers.

“Their models should be scaled,” Su said. “They train workers with progression, they use apprenticeship programs so that workers are earning while they’re learning, and they’re really focused on equity.”

The Shapiro administration sees their recently unveiled program as one of those.

“The Commonwealth Workforce Transformation Program will help train the next generation of skilled workers in Pennsylvania and break down barriers that shut too many workers out of real opportunity,” Shapiro said. “We’re going to build Pennsylvania’s infrastructure with the best, most highly trained workforce in the country – and this initiative will be a model for other states to follow.”