Look for the union label on public works projects. A new study of public works projects in Sacramento County, California, shows union contractors saved taxpayers money and finished construction projects faster than non-union outfits:
In a recent study, Larissa Petrucci of NorCal Construction Industry Compliance and I teamed up to test this hypothesis. We examined 128 public works projects completed in Sacramento County, Calif., between 2018 and 2022. Seventy-five projects were led by unionized contractors, while 53 were led by non-union contractors.
On controlling costs, the difference was substantial. Across all projects, final costs averaged about $236,000 above those laid out in initial contracts. But projects led by non-union contractors experienced average cost overruns that were more than 10 times larger than those on union-led projects.
On timeliness, unionized contractors also outperformed. While the average project in our data set took 274 days to complete, union-led projects were completed in an average of 268 days, compared to an average of 283 days for non-union-led projects.
To better isolate these effects, we then employed industry-standard regression analysis to control for factors such as project size, construction type, agency type, project type, location, start year and other relevant characteristics. This analysis showed that projects led by unionized contractors had cost increases that were up to 6.3 percentage points smaller than comparable non-union projects. Union-led projects were also completed 14 to 22 percent faster, which translates to 38 to 60 days faster on an average-duration project. These are not marginal differences [Matthew Hinkel, “The Myth That Unionized Construction Costs Governments More,” Governing, 2026.08.19].
We shouldn’t be surprised that union shops work faster and cheaper—after all, their labor is organized.