Dive Brief:
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Construction workers on government-funded projects in New York City earn up to 177% more than those employees in private industry, a report by New York YIMBY, a real estate and construction site, revealed. The figures were calculated using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the New York City Comptroller's Office.
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The publication blamed “the lack of transparency” by the city about its public works projects, and accused the government of paying “bloated salaries” and practicing “gross corruption.”
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The public/private pay gap is most pronounced for insulators, who earn $68,996 from private employers but $190,223 for government jobs, the publication reported. Likewise, structural iron workers take home an average salary of $235,248 on city jobs, but otherwise earn $111,920. Steamfitters get $221,603 for public works, versus $98,328.
Dive Insight:
The publication said that although high salaries “are a good thing,” it claimed the discrepancy between public and private project wages “is due to corruption and a lack of transparency rather than legitimate competition.” It called the higher wages “beyond absurd” and a “waste of billions of taxpayer dollars.”
However, some commenters critiqued the site for not taking into consideration prevailing wages for workers on public projects. According to real estate site The Real Deal, the New York government has been debating the addition of a prevailing wage requirement for other construction workers in a 421a reform package.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo reportedly supports the measure, but NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio strongly opposes it, as it would be "essentially a mandate to hire union labor for construction" and could cost New York 17,000 affordable housing units, Capital New York reported.
