January, 2010
“Jobs Bill” Highway Investments Critical To The Economy
As one of its first activities of the 2010 session, the Senate will be debating the “Jobs for Main Street Act”. The bill is a smaller, more targeted version of last year’s stimulus bill and it doubles down on the $27.5 billion in highway and bridge investments made under that bill.
“The Jobs Bill is a significant improvement over last year’s stimulus and we strongly support it,” said Greg Cohen, President and CEO of the American Highway Users Alliance. “It is important to consider that highway and bridge investments made up only 3% of the total cost of the old stimulus. In the new, smaller Jobs Bill passed by the House, the $27.5 billion in highways and bridge investments make up 18% of the total cost. In other words, Congress is providing new focus in this bill and choosing programs that ‘work’ – both in the short and long term.”
Recently, the AP released a flawed analysis that was critical of the highway spending for job growth. The analysis failed to fully consider the number of jobs created and saved outside of the immediate vicinities of projects. It also failed to consider that the vast majority of the highway money will be spent in the coming months. By only looking at local employment, the study failed to recognize the positive effects of highway spending for materials suppliers, equipment makers and dealers, truckers and others.
Of the 30,000 jobs sustained by each billion dollars in federal spending, about two-thirds are indirectly created in supporting industries or induced in totally different industries. In fact, nearly half of the jobs created by highway investments are induced. The AP report fails to consider that a large portion of the jobs are created far from an individual stimulus project’s location but still benefit the country as a whole.
“Analysts should think about our highways as the economic circulatory system of our country,” said Cohen. “Like a cardiac stent, an improvement to the circulatory system in one part of the network creates benefits throughout the entire system. Better, safer, and more efficient highways have a long track-record of proven positive impacts on the regional and national economy. There should be no doubt that they protect and create hundreds of thousands of American jobs.”
For more information on jobs created by highways and bridge investments, please visit http://www.dot.gov/recovery/reports.htm.
Source: American Highway Users Alliance
“The Jobs Bill is a significant improvement over last year’s stimulus and we strongly support it,” said Greg Cohen, President and CEO of the American Highway Users Alliance. “It is important to consider that highway and bridge investments made up only 3% of the total cost of the old stimulus. In the new, smaller Jobs Bill passed by the House, the $27.5 billion in highways and bridge investments make up 18% of the total cost. In other words, Congress is providing new focus in this bill and choosing programs that ‘work’ – both in the short and long term.”
Recently, the AP released a flawed analysis that was critical of the highway spending for job growth. The analysis failed to fully consider the number of jobs created and saved outside of the immediate vicinities of projects. It also failed to consider that the vast majority of the highway money will be spent in the coming months. By only looking at local employment, the study failed to recognize the positive effects of highway spending for materials suppliers, equipment makers and dealers, truckers and others.
Of the 30,000 jobs sustained by each billion dollars in federal spending, about two-thirds are indirectly created in supporting industries or induced in totally different industries. In fact, nearly half of the jobs created by highway investments are induced. The AP report fails to consider that a large portion of the jobs are created far from an individual stimulus project’s location but still benefit the country as a whole.
“Analysts should think about our highways as the economic circulatory system of our country,” said Cohen. “Like a cardiac stent, an improvement to the circulatory system in one part of the network creates benefits throughout the entire system. Better, safer, and more efficient highways have a long track-record of proven positive impacts on the regional and national economy. There should be no doubt that they protect and create hundreds of thousands of American jobs.”
For more information on jobs created by highways and bridge investments, please visit http://www.dot.gov/recovery/reports.htm.
Source: American Highway Users Alliance