Building Blocks of the Economy

Concrete, steel and fiber-optic cable. These are the building blocks of the economy. 

Infrastructure enables. It connects supply chains and efficiently moves goods and services across borders. Infrastructure connects households to higher quality opportunities for employment, healthcare, and education. 

From public and private investment in roads, bridges, telecommunication systems, broadband networks, railroads, energy projects and pipelines, water systems, buildings, and parks, infrastructure is the backbone of a healthy economy.

And it employs a lot of people, nearly 12 percent of the nation's workforce. They are truck drivers, airline pilots, construction workers, locomotive engineers, electrical power-line installers, and airline pilots.

The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that every dollar spent on infrastructure produced an economic benefit of up to $2.20, and the U.S. Council of Economic Advisers has calculated that $1 billion of transportation infrastructure investment supports 13,000 jobs for a year.

Every four years, the American Society of Civil Engineers publishes its “Infrastructure Report Card.” Last month, it was that time again, and the ASCE actually upgraded the country slightly to a C-. But it said it would cost $5.9 trillion over the next decade to bring roads, bridges, and airports to a safe and sustainable level.

 Job Creation for Those Who Need It

 In the peak years of the post-World War II blue-collar economy in the 1970s, 72 percent of jobs required no more than a high school education. Today, only about 30 percent of jobs in the economy require a high school diploma or less. 

Economists say that President Joe Biden’s massive infrastructure plan would create millions of jobs, undoing some of the economic damage inflicted by the coronavirus pandemic. And they say that lower-middle-income workers and minorities may benefit the most.

About 75 percent of the infrastructure jobs created would go to workers with no more than a high school diploma, while the rest would require an associate’s degree or higher, Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce (CEW) in Washington said in a report.

CEW estimates the investment would create 8 million jobs for workers with a high school diploma or less and 4.8 million jobs for those with more than a high school diploma but less than a bachelor’s degree.

“What’s interesting is that this plan really gives them a chance to create opportunity for people who have a high school degree or less,” Nicole Smith, research professor and chief economist at Georgetown’s CEW, told Reuters.

This is the lead story to BBA Economic Digest, a weekly online newsletter for economic developers and business people. Six more stories follow. To subscribe, go to https://www.barberadvisors.com/plans-pricing