"In sum, the evidence that PLAs have increased the cost of school construction in New Jersey since 2002 is strong. Out of the 107 total school construction projects, the 79 PLA projects in our sample accounted for 9.77 million square feet of construction with a combined cost of $3.522 billion, based on the projects that we were able to include in our study. Our estimates show that taxpayers would have saved $565.1 million, or over $7.1 million per project, if PLAs had not been used."
The Effects of Project Labor Agreements on Public School Construction in New Jersey, by William F. Burke, BSBA, and David G. Tuerck, PhD, The Beacon Hill Institute for Public Policy Research, August 2019.