Labor’s Infrastructure Wins Depend on Avoiding Problems of 2009

The newly passed infrastructure package’s goal of creating well-paying jobs with decent benefits hinges on the federal government’s ability to overcome the challenges of 12 years ago—the last time it spent big on public works projects.

President Joe Biden, who is imminently expected to sign the $550 billion measure, will need to coordinate a government-wide effort to pay workers a prevailing wage on contracts financed by the legislation—an issue that plagued roll out of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which then-Vice President Biden quarterbacked for the Obama administration.

The bipartisan infrastructure bill, Biden’s most significant legislative achievement as ...