Construction industry officials keeping close watch on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s progress now have new data to study. A White House Council of Economic Advisors report, released on Sept. 10, finds the stimulus law so far has produced or saved about one million jobs, including 133,000 in construction. The figures are estimates, not an actual count of jobs reported by state agencies or companies that have received ARRA aid.
Robert A. Murray, McGraw-Hill Construction’s vice president for economic affairs, says CEA’s report, its first quarterly ARRA review, “does indicate the stimulus will increase the ‘pro-cyclical’ benefits to come from construction employment, but to this point the extent of that lift is just an estimate. As a result, determining the benefits to construction employment from ARRA, at least in a hard data sense, will have to wait for subsequent reports.”