How are prevailing wage rates established?

The minimum monetary wages and fringe benefits to be paid are established based on what is prevailing in the locality. A rate is determined to prevail where a single rate is paid to a majority (50 percent or more) of the workers in the same class in a particular locality. If a single rate is not paid to the majority of workers in a locality, statistical measurements such as the median (a point in a distribution where 50 percent of the surveyed workers receive that or a higher rate and 50 percent receive a lesser rate) or the mean (average) are used to establish prevailing wage rates.