An estimated 262,000 construction-sector jobs have been produced or saved by American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds through the end of 2009, the White House Council of Economic Advisers says in its second quarterly report on the stimulus measure’s impact. That total is nearly double the 133,000 ARRA construction jobs CEA estimated in its first ARRA snapshot, issued on Sept. 10.
In its new report, released on Jan. 13, CEA notes that its numbers “are only estimates,” but those figures are in line with job counts reported by states and localities to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. The panel says ARRA-funded highway and transit projects alone created or preserved more than 250,000 “direct, on-project jobs” as of Nov. 30. Most of the jobs probably are in construction. They stem from 8,587 highway and transit projects under construction and worth $19.7 billion.