A new study suggests one path to helping people struggling in today’s economy find their way into the middle class, via Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) for large-scale construction projects. Among the most successful PLAs, the Cornell University study found, are those that incorporate Community Workforce Agreements born of partnerships between community organizations, unions and employers. Community workforce provisions require the hiring of local residents on construction projects, and often target specific populations, including low-income people, women and veterans.

The best of these programs, according to the report, incorporate paid apprenticeships for those who have never worked before in the building trades, which add the longer-term bonus of helping to create a skilled workforce in a given community.

Among the report’s key findings, according to a summary from American Rights at Work:

• Of the 185 PLAs analyzed for the report, 97 percent incorporated one or more community workforce provisions—most often including goals for hiring local area residents and utilizing apprenticeship programs.
• 139 PLAs included Helmets to Hardhats provisions to promote the entry of veterans into the construction industry.
• 103 PLAs included provisions to encourage hiring of women and minorities.
• 45 PLAs included provisions for employment and career opportunities for economically disadvantaged populations.

Kimberly Freeman Brown, executive director of American Rights at Work, contends that if President Obama’s jobs bill, currently stalled in Congress, were to include such community workforce agreements as those included in the PLAs studied by Cornell, the $105 billion dedicated to construction projects in the plan could yield about 525,000 good jobs, including 114,000 paid apprenticeships. The Americans Rights at Work release says that some 70,000 of the apprentice slots created by such agreements could be filled by workers of color, as well as thousands of women, veterans and low-income residents.

Freeman Brown explains:

Despite creating good jobs that benefit all Americans, PLAs continue to get assailed by special interests who embrace a “race to the bottom” business model. As growing income inequality cripples our local communities, and our military veterans are rewarded for their service with a trip to the unemployment line, we can’t afford to let attacks on a critical economic development tool like PLAs succeed.

The report, “Community Workforce Provisions in Project Labor Agreements: A Tool for Building Middle-Class Careers,” issued by the Cornell University ILR School, was co-authored by ILR’s Maria Figueroa, Labor and Industry Research director; Jeff Grabelsky, Construction Industry Program director; and research associate Ryan Lamare. A PDF version of the report can be downloaded here.