WASHINGTON, D.C., Dec. 9, 2019 — Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) national office released its annual Merit Shop Scorecard today, ranking Wisconsin 8th for having an exemplary business environment for merit shop construction contractors. Wisconsin ranks higher than most states for policies and programs that promote open competition and free enterprise for the construction sector.
“With pro-business policies and regulations, Wisconsin lawmakers have established an environment that allows all contractors to thrive, which is good for everyone,” said John Mielke, ABC of Wisconsin president. “Our state’s construction industry is booming, which leads to good-paying jobs for our workforce, increased opportunities for small businesses to expand and overall economic growth across the state.”
The scorecard is related to the merit shop philosophy, which encourages open competition and a free enterprise approach that awards contracts based solely on merit, regardless of labor affiliation.
“Wisconsin has continually improved on its ranking for several years since several common-sense legislative reforms on project labor agreements, prevailing wage and right to work,” Mielke said.
Wisconsin ranked 26th in 2015, prior to the enactment of these reforms, and continued to move up the ranks to 15th and 12th in 2017 and 2018, respectively. Wisconsin ranks higher than all its neighboring states, including Iowa (9th), Michigan (14th), Minnesota (40th), and Illinois (50th).
2019 WISCONSIN SCORECARD
Overall Rank: 8
Project Labor Agreement Policy: A
Prevailing Wage Mandates: A
Right to Work: A
Public-Private Partnerships: B
Workforce Development Incentives: C
Career and Technical Education: A
Job Growth Rate: B
Criteria and definitions are available at meritshopscorecard.org.
