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If you are among those still condemning West Virginia legislators who repealed the antiquated prevailing wage law earlier this year, the news this week was not good.
Critics of the action insisted it would cost the jobs of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Mountain State construction workers. Paychecks they should have been collecting would go to employees of out-of-state companies descending on West Virginia to outbid in-state firms for public works projects, the naysayers insisted.
On the books for decades, prevailing wage laws required that public bodies such as city councils, county commissions and boards of education require that contractors on their construction projects pay employees wages set by the state, or better. State officials were supposed to ensure workers received at least the same pay prevailing for all similar work in their areas.
In practice, wage requirements often were in excess of wages truly prevailing. That cost public bodies -- and thus taxpayers -- money unnecessarily.
But the law was needed to safeguard the jobs of Mountain State construction workers, its defenders said.
Earlier this year, employment of West Virginians in the construction industry indeed was falling. That was before the prevailing wage repeal kicked in.
Now, according to the Associated Builders and Contractors Inc., West Virginia is rebounding better than any other state.
In March, the state was ranked 46th in the nation in terms of construction employment that month, compared to a year before. Now, West Virginia is No. 1 in that comparison, according to the ABC, a national construction industry trade association.
In other words, the sky did not fall on Mountain State construction workers as a result of the repeal of prevailing wage.
For many years, the state's business-related laws have hampered economic development. Action to change that during the past two years has been blasted by labor unions and others claiming to be defenders of working West Virginians -- and those who would like to be employed.
Their terrible track record in predicting what would happen over repeal of prevailing wage needs to be remembered as progressive state leaders plan even more changes in the old, failed ways of doing things.