“Statistically insignificant.” “Meaningless.” “Negligible.” “Small.” “A lot of static.” “A lot of noise.”
Those are some of the phrases and words used to describe the U.S. Census Bureau’s latest estimate of continued population loss in the City of Pittsburgh.
“Standing still” was part of the headline in one local newspaper reporting the numbers. That might be the more important operative phrase.
While the actual loss of people indeed is small – 239 from 2015 to 2016, less than a one percent decline — a worrisome trend is in those numbers. To wit, the city lost population for the third consecutive year. Allegheny County lost nearly 4,000 residents in the same 2015-16 period.
No matter how small this population loss is in the grand scheme of things – and no matter the reason – the bottom line is that it means Greater Pittsburgh is not, on net, growing.
And that certainly calls into question the efficacy of the proverbial this, that and the other economic “development” schemes that keep coming down the pike — what scholar Jane Jacobs famously called “wishful thinking and forgetfulness” fueled by “political hubris and public subsidies.”
Local school boards would be wise to take note of a new study in neighboring Ohio regarding project labor agreements and school construction.
The study, released May 25 by The Beacon Hill Institute, concludes that PLAs, as they are known, increase the cost of construction by about 13 percent.
The National Right to Work Legal Defense and Education Foundation reminds that project labor agreements involve the government awarding contracts for public construction projects exclusively to unionized firms.
The Beacon Hill Institute study involved 88 schools built in Ohio since 2000.
Among the findings:
– Ohio schools subjected to government-mandated PLAs cost $23.12 per square foot more than projects built through fair and open competition
– That led to an extra cost, on average, of $2 million per project.
The Beacon Hill Institute reminds that prior studies – in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and California – found PLA-associated construction costing between 12 percent and 18 percent more on average.
As Ben Brubeck, vice president of regulatory labor and state affairs at Associated Builders and Contractors Inc., noted in a news release upon the study’s publication:
“All taxpayers deserve efficient, accountable and effective construction spending and investment in schools and infrastructure free from special-interest handouts that discourage competition from qualified, local workers and contractors.”
The Ohio study offers further proof that project labor agreements are bad public policy. But don’t count on Ohio lawmakers to do anything about it. Late last year the Ohio Senate rejected banning the cartel-preserving practice. Both the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme court have upheld the legality of PLAs.
More’s the pity considering that they unnecessarily pick the pockets of taxpayers.
Twenty-three states have enacted legislation restricting government-mandated project labor agreements, including neighboring West Virginia.
Colin McNickle is a senior fellow and media specialist at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy (cmcnickle@alleghenyinstitute.org).
