Prevailing wage survey distribution begins

Nevada Labor Commissioner Michael Tanchek this week begins distributing the 2006 construction wage survey to contractors throughout the state and the state is pushing hard to increase the response rate.

State law requires the commissioner to survey contractors who have performed construction work during the past year so he can determine the prevailing wage rates required on public works construction projects costing more than $100,000.

The labor commissioner will mail survey packets to approximately 14,500 licensed contractors across the state. Last year, Tanchek said, about 650 companies provided the information used to compute prevailing rates.

Responses are particularly important from contractors who handled work in rural areas, Tanchek said. If the state doesn't get those responses, it uses wage figures from other nearby counties which might include bigger cities.

Along with the mailing that goes out this week, the survey packet will be available at www.LaborCommissioner.com. Participants can go online to complete the form and print a hard copy for mailing, but surveys cannot be filed electronically.

Contractors also can request a hard copy by calling the Office of the

Labor Commissioner in Carson City at 687-4850, or toll free at 1-800-992-0900.

Carrie Foley, the chief assistant to Tanchek who oversees the data collection and calculation, said the information obtained in the surveys is loaded into a computer program that calculates the prevailing wage rates on a county-by-county, job-classification basis.

Completed surveys are due July 17. The survey results will be posted on the agency's Web site by Oct. 1.