Apprentice wage calculator for Davis-Bacon jobs
Free apprentice wage calculator for Davis-Bacon jobs: enter the journeyworker rate and program percentage for the hourly rate, the fringe, and the weekly gross.
A registered apprentice’s basic rate is the program’s percentage times the journeyworker basic rate on the wage determination, not the program’s own dollar schedule. Fringe follows the program standards; when they say nothing about fringe, the apprentice gets the full fringe on the determination.
Apprentice pay for the WH-347
- Column 2
- RA, 60%
- Basic rate (6A top), 60% of $42.15
- $25.29
- Overtime rate (6A bottom), 1.5 × basic
- $37.935
- Fringe per hour
- $18.40
- Hours, 40 straight and 4 overtime
- 44
- Gross with fringe paid as cash
- $1,972.94
If the fringe goes to plans instead of cash, the gross drops by the plan portion and column 6B carries it.
Three things the calculator cannot check
- The ratio. Apprentices on the site cannot exceed the ratio in the program standards, per craft, per day. Extra apprentices are paid as journeyworkers. On a job in another state, that state’s ratios and percentages apply (29 CFR 5.5(a)(4)(i)(D)).
- The paperwork. The program registration and this apprentice’s individual registration must be in the project file before the first payroll.
- The base. The percentage applies to the journeyworker rate on the wage determination for this classification, even when the program’s own wage schedule shows a lower dollar figure.
Who may be paid the apprentice rate
Only a worker individually registered in an apprenticeship program registered with the Department of Labor’s Office of Apprenticeship or a recognized state apprenticeship agency, or one in the first 90 days of probationary employment who has been certified by the Office of Apprenticeship or the state apprenticeship agency as eligible for probationary employment. Everyone else who does the work of the craft is a journeyworker for pay purposes, whatever they are called on the job. That is 29 CFR 5.5(a)(4)(i).
How the rate is set
The program standards give a wage progression as percentages of the journeyworker rate: 50 percent in the first period, 55 in the second, and so on. The percentage is applied to the journeyworker basic rate on the wage determination for the classification, not to whatever the program’s own wage schedule says in dollars. Overtime is 1.5 times the resulting apprentice basic rate.
Fringe follows the program
Apprentices get fringe according to the program standards. If the standards say nothing about fringe, the apprentice gets the full fringe amount from the wage determination, the same as a journeyworker. If the standards set fringe at the same percentage as the wage, or at a stated dollar figure, that applies. The calculator offers all 3.
The ratio and the paperwork
The number of apprentices on the site cannot exceed the ratio in the program standards, per craft, measured each day (the Department’s Field Operations Handbook, 15e01(b)(1)). An apprentice over the ratio is paid the journeyworker rate for that day. On a job outside the state where the program is registered, the ratio and apprentice percentages in force where the work is done apply (29 CFR 5.5(a)(4)(i)(D)). Good practice: keep 3 documents in the project file before the first payroll, the program’s registration, the apprentice’s individual registration, and the standards showing the progression and ratio, because a reviewer will ask for them. The apprentice rules in full.
Read the rules
This math runs on every line in CertifiedHours.
The calculator and the app share the same code. In the app it runs as you type, against the wage determination you entered once, and the WH-347 prints itself. Free for one payroll a month.
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This tool applies the federal rules as written and is not legal advice. Your contract, the wage determination, and any state law control when they differ.