Prevailing Wage Overview

Know the Law

This section provides:

Find Forms and Contact the Equal Rights Division

This section provides downloadable versions of prevailing wage forms and includes Equal Rights Division contact information like telephone numbers, fax numbers and emails.

Apply for a Prevailing Wage Project Determination

This section explains the circumstances under which a public construction project requires a prevailing wage rate determination and provides both an on-line and a downloadable application for prevailing wage rate determination.

Report and View Certified Payroll Records

In this section, the public may view certified payroll reports contractors submitted for their work on prevailing wage projects from January 1, 2010, through June 30, 2011.

Search for Project, County, Initial and Final Determinations

In this section, the public may view specific prevailing wage project determinations and find prevailing wage rates by county for the various construction trades and project types. These rates are meant for public viewing only, and not for project bidding purposes. Around October or November, the website displays Initial Determinations for the next year’s proposed rates. On January 1, the website displays Final Determinations for that year.

Complete Annual Prevailing Wage Survey

Every year from about May through July, the division conducts a survey of contractors who work on construction projects in Wisconsin. The survey results generate the prevailing wage rates for each construction trade in each county for five different project types. (The public may view the project types and rates in the "Search for Project, County, Initial and Final Determinations" section above.) This section includes a downloadable survey application, Frequently Asked Questions About the Survey and general survey information.