The Davis-Bacon Act of 1931 requires any contractor or subcontractor performing work on a federal government construction contract or federally assisted construction contract over $2,000, to pay their workers on-site not less than the local prevailing wages and fringe benefits paid on similar projects as determined by the Secretary of Labor.

The act named after James J. Davis a Senator from Pennsylvania and Representative Robert L. Bacon of Long Island New York, was signed into law by President Hebert Hoover on March 3, 1934 as a way of providing some market stability in an inherently unstable construction industry.