Dr. Larissa Petrucci, policy and research analyst at Northern California Construction Industry Compliance, joined the America's Work Force Union Podcast to discuss a peer-reviewed study she co-authored with Dr. Matthew Hinkle of Michigan examining 128 Sacramento County public works projects completed between 2018 and 2022.
The findings challenge the claim that using union contractors on public projects will cost taxpayers more money. Using publicly available payroll data, hundreds of public records requests and statistical modeling to ensure like-to-like project comparisons, the study found that union contractors were associated with cost savings between 5 percent and 6 percent and 14 percent to 22 percent faster project completion, when compared to non-union contractors.
Petrucci described California's publicly available certified payroll data as the model other states should pursue and called on building trades councils across the country to push their legislatures for similar transparency laws.
- Using California's publicly available database of public works projects, electronic certified payroll records and hundreds of public records requests for additional cost data, Petrucci and co-author Dr. Matthew Hinkle analyzed 128 Sacramento County projects completed between 2018 and 2022. They used statistical controls for project type, year, scope and other variables to ensure apples-to-apples comparisons. At the highest level of statistical significance, union contractors were associated with 5 percent to 6 percent lower costs and 14 percent to 22 percent faster completion times than non-union contractors.
- Petrucci attributed the cost and time savings to factors including the highly trained nature of the union construction workforce, noting that union contractors in California provide apprenticeship training for 93 percent of all construction apprentices in the state. Workers who complete union apprenticeships are trained not only to do the job correctly the first time, but to do it efficiently, with their employer having invested substantially in that training over multiple years.
- Petrucci called on building trades councils in other states to push their legislatures for publicly available certified payroll data and project award databases comparable to California's. The availability of such large-scale data is what allows policymakers to move beyond anecdotes and make evidence-based decisions about project labor agreements and contractor selection. Additional studies are in progress that will detail more specifically the public works laws that enable this kind of research in California, she said.
Dispelling a Persistent Myth With Data
The argument that union contractors cost taxpayers more on public works projects is one that comes up in city council chambers, state legislatures and editorial pages across the country. Dr. Larissa Petrucci, a policy and research analyst with Northern California Construction Industry Compliance, spent months building the dataset to objectively test that claim. The result is a peer-reviewed study of 128 Sacramento County public works projects completed between 2018 and 2022, co-authored with Dr. Matthew Hinkle of Michigan. The findings go against the conventional claim.
NorCal CIC is a joint labor-management cooperation committee focused on ensuring contractor compliance with California public works laws and maintaining a level playing field in the industry. Because the organization works closely with public works projects funded by taxpayers, Petrucci said understanding what taxpayers are actually getting for their money is central to its research mission.
How the Study Was Built
The study drew on several publicly available data sources. California requires all agencies awarding public works projects to submit that information to the state Department of Industrial Relations, creating a single statewide database of every public works project. California also requires contractors on public works projects to submit electronic certified payroll records, which are publicly available and show when workers started and finished a project. Combined with hundreds of public records requests to obtain cost data, these sources gave Petrucci and Hinkle the raw material for the analysis.
The Sacramento-Sierra’s Building Construction Trades Council helped confirm which contractors on each project were union or non-union. From there, the researchers used statistical modeling to control for variables that could otherwise contaminate the comparison. This included whether a project was new construction or a repair, the type of facility involved, the year it started and its scope and complexity. Petrucci described the statistical rigor as essential. Without it, a finding about union versus non-union performance could actually be a finding about a project type or year. With those controls in place and the results arriving at the highest level of statistical significance, the researchers could be confident that what they found was attributable to contractor union status.
The Findings
Union contractors were associated with 5 percent to 6 percent lower costs than non-union contractors on comparable projects. They were also associated with completion times 14 percent to 22 percent faster. Petrucci said the study cannot provide a single explicit explanation for why, but the characteristics of the union construction workforce offer strong inferences. Union contractors in California provide apprenticeship training for 93 percent of all construction apprentices in the state. Workers who complete those programs are trained to perform the job correctly the first time and efficiently. Their employers make a substantial investment in that training over several years. The result is a workforce that arrives at a project prepared at a level that non-union contractors are not producing.
What This Means for Taxpayers and Workers
For taxpayers, the data shows they get more value from union contractors, not less, Petrucci said. Lower costs and faster completion are measurable benefits from public funds spent. For workers and communities, union construction jobs offer wages that can support a family, particularly important in an expensive state like California, as well as career paths that do not require a college degree and documented safety advantages. She noted that research consistently shows union job sites have fewer fatalities and a greater emphasis on worker wellbeing. Choosing a union contractor on a public project, she said, is not a trade-off between taxpayer value and worker value. It delivers both simultaneously.
A Call to Other States
Petrucci was direct about the study's limitations. It exists because California has the data infrastructure to make it possible. Most states do not. The first step for building trades councils in states without comparable data laws is to push their legislatures to enact certified payroll transparency and public works project databases similar to those California has built, she said. The data does not exist behind a black box in California by accident. It exists because advocates fought for laws requiring public access.
She pointed to the Institute for Construction Employment Research (ICERES) as a network connecting construction researchers across the country working on similar questions, and encouraged union business managers and building trades councils to contact researchers doing this work. She said she welcomes conversations with anyone interested in replicating this type of study in their state. Additional California studies are in progress, she added, that will document more specifically the public works laws that make the data available.
More information on Northern California Construction Industry Compliance is available at norcalcic.org. Petrucci's research is also available at larissapetrucci.com.
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