The Davis-Bacon Act was created in 1931, to help preserve construction jobs for Northern union members. The Davis-Bacon Act mandates that a "prevailing wage" be paid on all federally funded public construction projects. Davis-Bacon has been shown to inflate the cost of federally funded construction projects by anywhere from 5% to 38%, which is passed onto the American taxpayer. Davis-Bacon also hurts the semi-skilled "Helper" when trying to work on federal construction projects.