The U.S. Dept. of Transportation is reviving Obama-era pilot programs for state agencies and contractors to give hiring preferences to people who live in areas where construction projects are located if they receive federal agency funding.
The local-hire initiative, which Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg announced on May 19, at the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge replacement project in Washington, D.C., drew praise from a prominent construction union but was criticized by a major contractor group.