Still Moving Forward: Continued Opportunities to Create Good Jobs in Virginia

In the wake of the pandemic, the federal government unleashed historic investments to accelerate the clean energy transition, rebuild critical infrastructure, and revitalize American industry through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), and CHIPS Act. These laws and accompanying executive orders were designed not just to strategically deploy capital to key sectors, but to shape a new good-jobs economy — where people are paid living wages, work in safe conditions, and have more equitable access to career paths. Central to this promise are “high road” labor standards, including fair pay through prevailing wage mandates, training the next generation of skilled workers through apprenticeship requirements, and increasing worker protections. The trio of Biden-era investment laws and executive orders increased opportunities to prioritize these standards and create good jobs, but the current administration has stepped back from these commitments. Now, states, local governments, and private companies must leverage remaining federal opportunities and be at the forefront of creating an economy that works for all of us.

Virginia has begun to benefit from major investments partially funded by the trio of federal bills. This includes large-scale infrastructure projects like the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel and the Long Bridge project across the Potomac River, clean energy developments like the Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project, and advanced manufacturing such as the expansion of Micron Technology’s facility in Manassas. The CVOW project is projected to support approximately 1,100 direct and indirect jobs during operations, with tens of millions of dollars in projected annual wages and benefits. In less than three years, between when President Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act in August 2022 and March 2025, Virginia gained at least 16 new clean energy investments, which together were expected to create 4,296 jobs with an announced capital investment of $2.4 billion. Nine of these projects, creating 3,478 jobs, were in rural areas. One compilation by the Center for American Progress found even more: $3.1 billion actually invested in Virginia (not just announced) between August 2022 and December 2024.

This should be the start of many more projects, as much of the support for manufacturing and transportation improvements from the trio of Biden-era investment laws remains available. And Virginia’s nonprofits, local governments, schools, and state agencies can still participate in these important opportunities through both direct grants and using the Inflation Reduction Act’s “Direct Pay” provisions (also known as “elective pay”) to access tax credits to finance clean energy projects. While doing so, they can maximize available credits by adopting best practices in project contracting, including strong labor standards.

However, in 2025, job creation projections have been thrown into question as many federal BIL, IRA, or CHIPS grants (including funding already awarded to major projects, in some cases) have been frozen or rescinded. Additionally, the Trump administration rescinded a key executive order that strengthened labor protections for projects with funding from the trio of bills, and federal agencies charged with disbursing funds have changed or removed many previous requirements designed to incentivize good jobs. And not nearly as many good new Virginia jobs will be created as could have been due to the current Congress and President undermining the Inflation Reduction Act. The federal reconciliation bill passed by Congress over the summer (H.R. 1) will sharply limit the availability of key IRA tax credits for solar and wind energy and EV charging for both public and private-sector entities. Unless projects are started soon, many of those tax credits will not be available, whether due to adjusted sunset dates or new sourcing rules that may be impossible to meet. Combined, these dramatic shifts in federal policy will leave a significant number of jobs on the table. Before the changes made by H.R. 1, Energy Innovation estimated that the clean energy tax credits alone could generate over 9,900 jobs in Virginia by 2030, particularly in manufacturing, construction, and sales sectors.

In addition to eliminating many Inflation Reduction Act tax credits, changes in H.R. 1 will make obtaining grants from IRA more difficult. Congress rescinded “unobligated” money previously appropriated for many major grant programs in the Inflation Reduction Act. Most of the money from those grants had already been obligated to states, local governments, and nonprofits and probably won’t be clawed back, but funds for the federal government to manage and offer technical support for the grant work appear to be mostly rescinded, leaving questions about program administration. Congress also eliminated many provisions of prior laws that were intended to make sure the influx of federal funds helps rather than hurts communities that have experienced environmental impacts from prior industrial projects – as well as the challenges of job loss as technological and other changes have rendered many of those projects obsolete. This leaves Virginia communities with fewer resources and fewer protections than at this time last year, making the state’s role even more important.

The trio of federal industrial bills provided – and still provides – opportunities for states, local governments, and private companies to not only create new jobs, but to make sure they are good jobs, and that people who were historically excluded from certain trades and job sectors have pathways to those opportunities.

There are some positive examples of specifically pro-worker policies in projects in Virginia that are partially funded by grants or tax credits from the industrial bills. The Long Bridge project to build a second railroad bridge across the Potomac River between Virginia and Washington, D.C – which will allow more frequent commuter and long-distance rail service while reducing conflicts with freight rail traffic – will use a project labor agreement for the southern portion to ensure a sufficient supply of skilled craft workers and, presumably, to comply with an executive order and rule that were put in place by the Biden administration. 

Similarly, Dominion’s offshore wind project includes an agreement with building trade unions to perform the onshore electrical infrastructure, turbine pre-assembly, and offshore work for the project. This agreement ensures that skilled labor by people who have come together in a union will be used for critical aspects of the project, benefiting both workers (via higher wages and benefits) and the project itself. Dominion Energy has also made explicit commitments to promote equity and inclusion in the CVOW project in line with the Virginia Clean Energy Act. The company has expressed a commitment to hiring veterans and workers from economically disadvantaged communities. Additionally, Dominion has implemented supplier diversity programs aimed at increasing opportunities for businesses owned by people of color, women, LGBTQ+ people, and veterans. These efforts should help make sure the economic benefits of the project are broadly shared across the community.

Beyond public projects and regulated utilities, some private projects also appear to be committing to pro-worker policies, and in doing so, maximizing available tax credits under the Inflation Reduction Act. Topsoe’s planned hydrogen manufacturing facility in Chesterfield County will receive $136 million in tax credits by meeting prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements and thereby unlocking bonuses through the Qualifying Advanced Energy Project Credit part of the Inflation Reduction Act.

However, it is unclear whether most companies and public agencies in Virginia that receive grants and tax credits to modernize the state’s economy and create good jobs are taking all possible steps to grow the pipeline into good jobs and make sure workers on the job are protected. Currently, Virginia lacks standardized, public-facing data that would allow researchers, policymakers, and communities to answer basic questions about federally- and state-funded infrastructure projects: What wages and benefits are actually being paid? Are local residents being hired? Are apprentices from underrepresented communities getting opportunities to build careers? Are the worksites safe and well-supervised? Similarly, while data on wages and overall hiring numbers is available for manufacturing projects that get certain state grants on top of federal IRA tax credits, it is not broken down by whether people being hired are from local communities or from groups that have historically been excluded from many of the highest-paying trades and manufacturing roles.

Additionally, few Virginia projects publicly confirm whether they’re meeting all the requirements necessary to unlock IRA’s most powerful labor incentive: the “5× bonus tax credits” available when a project meets both prevailing wage and apprenticeship utilization standards. For public entities like local governments or school divisions, failure to meet these standards could mean leaving millions of dollars in tax credits accessed via direct pay (also known as elective pay) unclaimed — a missed opportunity to expand both services and job quality.

Virginia’s legislature has taken some important steps that set the groundwork for the state and localities to do more. Since 2021, the Commonwealth has had a state prevailing wage law that applies to public works contracts over $250,000, aligning state-funded public works with federal Davis-Bacon wage standards. This policy aims to ensure workers receive industry-standard wages and benefits on public infrastructure projects. However, the reach and depth of these protections — and the degree to which they translate into widespread “good jobs” — remains uneven. One problem that can be fixed is that local governments are not currently required to pay a prevailing wage unless they have opted in through a local ordinance.

Additionally, as the federal government steps back from enforcing its own regulations in ways that hurt working people — particularly working people of color — it becomes more important for states, including Virginia, to step forward with their own strong pro-worker policies and enforcement mechanisms. 

Other states provide useful comparisons. In Illinois, public infrastructure projects are often subject to mandatory project labor agreements (PLAs) and prevailing wage, with built-in data reporting on hiring of women and people of color. New York’s clean energy procurement includes requirements related to wages and apprenticeship use. Washington state requires community workforce or project labor agreements and tracks apprenticeship hours by project for certain state-level clean energy incentives. These policies help ensure that federal and state dollars not only land — but lift.

Virginia can do more. With billions in federal funds still available and the 2026 General Assembly approaching, this is the moment to ensure maximum return — not just for physical infrastructure, but for people. Lawmakers should adopt a “high-road” investment framework that includes:

The unpredictable freezing and unfreezing of federal funding commitments to clean energy projects over the last nine months and major changes in H.R. 1 related to the Inflation Reduction Act will hurt Virginia communities by undermining some planned investments and the good jobs they would have created. But opportunities remain to create good jobs in Virginia while modernizing our infrastructure and economy. General instability on the federal level, accelerated sunset dates, and pending sourcing rules for IRA tax credit programs make state action more urgent — not less. Regardless of federal posture, states are the primary delivery system for most opportunities to invest in our communities. What Virginia does now will determine whether recent once-in-a-generation investments — as well as future clean energy and infrastructure investments — contribute to a more resilient, good jobs economy that will help everyone in Virginia thrive.