The chief economist for the Associated General Contractors of America is calling on Congress to increase its investment in infrastructure projects in order to provide “desperately needed” jobs for construction workers across the country.
U.S. stimulus
The chief economist for the Associated General Contractors of America is calling on Congress to increase its investment in infrastructure projects in order to provide “desperately needed” jobs for construction workers across the country.
Ken Simonson urged the quick adoption of bills to fund highways and transit, aviation and water projects, and appropriations bills for federal construction.
“All of these bills will deliver both short and long-term benefits to the American public, while providing desperately needed jobs for construction workers in every state,” he said. The Recovery Act will begin to mitigate job losses, he added, but the worsening state and local fiscal picture, along with continued sluggishness in the private sector, means that nonresidential construction work will keep shrinking.
According to new numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, construction jobs continued to disappear across the nation in June 2009, with losses as great as 26 per cent in Arizona, 23 per cent in Nevada and 22 per cent in Connecticut compared to the same period last year.
Only Louisiana and North Dakota saw slight increases in June, at four per cent and five per cent respectively versus June 2008.
JOC News Service
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