Assigning the correct craft and classification is a necessary part of ensuring the appropriate wage rates are paid to workers on a public works project. All available crafts, classifications, and wage rates can be found in the published general prevailing wage determinations made by the Director of the California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR). Determinations are published twice a year.

Identifying Crafts and Classifications

Step 1:  Visit the Director's General Prevailing Rate Page.

Step 2: The wage determination for your project will be based on the date it was advertised for initial bidding. This is generally the publish date for the City's Request for Quotation (RFQ) or Request for Bids (RFB). You can access previous wage determinations by clicking on the "Superseded prevailing wage determinations" link.

Step 3: The next page categorizes crafts by region. Crafts applicable to City of San José public works projects will be found in Statewide, Northern California, and County (Santa Clara) sections of this page. You may need to visit each section to find crafts specific to your project.

Step 4: Document the craft titles as well as the classifications you will use to classify workers on your project. As an example, to classify a worker under the craft of "Laborer," you must also include a classification based on the Group descriptions for the Laborer craft. An acceptable worker classification in this case would be "Laborer, Group 1."

Step 5: Use the craft and classifications identified for your project to fill out the Workforce Statement and to classify workers in payroll reports.