How do infrastructure projects help?

[salinen]

I have never studied economics so I'm hopefull that some here will describe to me how infrastructure jobs help. I am too old to labor as a concrete guy or frame up forms. I have other non-physical skills. So I'm going to guess that once the people who are working these "shovel ready" projects get paid, they'll spend money in some way that involves my skill set? That could take awhile. In the meantime, I need work too.

[MiniMe]

1. You got it. It puts people back to work.

If people are unemployed, they can't afford any other services.

Edited to add: Think it as trickle up instead of trickle down.

[YOY]

2. They need engineers, project managers, payroll, admins, etc... as well to back them up.

Not just the labor. As with many endeavors, it is only as great as the sum of it's parts.

[Hannah Bell]

22. engineers and project managers = labor.

labor = people who work for hire for others.

[sandnsea]

3. Accountants and lawyers

and architects and IT people get involved in the project before a shovel is even procured.

What is it that you do?

[Andy823]

4. It puts people to work

In all kinds of fields. Tax rebates are either spent, or put away in savings, either way it does not help the economy in the long run. Jobs will help people for a longer period of time, and there will be more money put back into the system.

[Jim__]

5. Not only does it provide jobs ...

... it rebuilds our long-neglected, crumbling infrastructure, and that contributes to productivity.

[UnrepentantUnitarian]

11. Precisely!

Even after the job-creation part, we actually have something to show for it. Unfortunately, there are over two trillion dollars worth of infrastructure work that is overdue, and whatever is agreed upon now will only scratch the surface. But, as the saying goes, you can pay me now or pay me later (...but you WILL pay).

[Caliman73]

6. Depends on what your skill set is.

Infrastructure means a great many things from laying concrete for roads and bridges, to landscaping parks and freeways. It means repairing cable and processing data for the work orders. It isn't all manual labor. All those projects need supervisors. There are many IT and data processing jobs that need to be done to make the physical labor run smoothly as well. The health care system is also part of our infrastructure, there are many jobs there that do not require people to wear a tool belt. The more people that are put to work the better.

[stillcool]

7. Just think of one project..

in one state, and how many people would be employed in order for it to happen, and apply ripple effect from there.

[county worker]

8. Theres will be office jobs connected with the labor jobs.

There is always administration costs and spin offs with other businesses getting business.

It is the turn over of the dollar. From government to business to workers, from business to other businesses. From workers to businesses and the beat goes on.

[Greyhound]

9. In addition to the people put directly to work on these projects, the infrastructure

itself continues to create a ripple-effect in the economy. Not only do the workers spend their pay, the thing built makes other commercial or communal activities possible or increases capacity, which creates or increases further employment which puts more money into the economy in general, and so on.

Conversely, this is why military spending is such a terrible stimulus, it creates a few jobs and those wages are put into the economy, but what they build is stored or expended with no further benefit. Filling a pothole makes that street more useful and continues to do so, building a bomb ends with it being stashed or used to destroy something, an economic dead end.

[suston96]

10. And while parts of the infrastructure are being repaired/replaced......

....the rest of the national infrastructure keeps crumbling due to ongoing neglect and a pervasive lack of attendance.

Over the years, I have seen underpass bridges on interstates and other highways crumbling before my eyes.

What a national disgrace.

[Kindigger]

14. Well then

that just keeps the muffler/shock salesmen, and the auto repair shops in business. :(

[UnrepentantUnitarian]

16. A Disgrace indeed.

One of my pet peeves with the Republican mindset here in SC is this "cut taxes" mantra...while, at the same time, people are dying because of inadequate roads. One example here is a super short on-ramp where a truck recently rolled over on a car and caught fire, with several deaths. But...hey... even with outdated ramps, we have low taxes. Goody for us. It's all about priorities, I guess. These clowns don't realize that sometimes taxes are investments, and sometimes they are investments in the safety of our own families. From the looks of their "lower taxes" political ads, I don't think they'll ever get it.

[Hekate]

25. 20 years ago the majority of bridges in the US were known to be in disrepair...

... and very little has been done about them due to lack of tax money being directed toward those projects. Repub ideology strikes again.

Hekate

[dtotire]

12. There is a Multiplier Effect

The workers these jobs provide will spend it for other things: new cars, restaurant meals, etc., and provide jobs in other areas. When demand has increased sufficiently, there is going to be new private investment, which will mean more jobs and increased tax revenue.

[izquierdista]

13. Another way to think of it

Think of it as "public wealth". With all the concern over the last 8 years that the top 1% could keep increasing their private wealth, not much was invested in things the other 99% could use and enjoy. Like libraries, computers for the libraries, internet connections for the computers in the libraries, light rail, buses, bus stops (with a covered bench and a route schedule, not just a post with a sign on it), auditoriums, schools, museums, skate parks, regular parks, recreation programs for those parks, etc.

No, all the other 99% was supposed to do was get so frustrated in not being able to find a job, that they would volunteer to be cannon fodder for the war in Iraq.

[4lbs]

15. Yeah, it's all sort of an interconnected ripple-like effect.

The AAM and PERI have estimated that every $1 billion spent annually on infrastructure like building roads, bridges, etc. creates 15,000 to 18,000 jobs each making an average of $40K per year. Let's take the lower number as a conservative (ahem) estimate.

$40K = 2000 hours (40 hours a week x 50 weeks) at $20 per hour.

$40K x 15000 jobs = $600 million dollars.

Then factor in the materials costs, equipment costs, and overhead/admin costs that has been estimated to be about $400 million.

So, there's your billion dollars creating at least 15,000 jobs. That's just direct labor hiring. When all these materials and equipment are purchased, that leads to indirectly related hiring of people to make and supply those materials and equipment. Then hiring of people to manage and maintain the overhead and admin paper-pushing. That could be another 3000 jobs indirectly "created" by the spending.

Thus, one could look at it as spending $1 billion on infrastructure creates 18,000 jobs both directly and indirectly.

Now, these 18,000 workers, with some discretionary spending income, probably would spend about $1000 a month each on things like groceries, clothes, and life-quality items like TVs, appliances, and electronics equipment. Or they feel secure enough to eat out at a local restaurant, take in a movie or two at the local theater, etc. That's $1.8 million per month just for all that. Thus, those stores and businesses would get that money. They would then hire workers to work those places as demand for their items and customers increase. Maybe a few hundred more people get hired at these stores.

These 18,000 workers are also now fully contributing taxpayers, paying back into the state and federal government coffers. They are no longer depending on unemployment, welfare, food stamps, etc. that have been now overloading state governments to the point of bankruptcy.

[whistle]

17. Long term jobs across the skill level occupations; designers, engineers

...manufacturers, distribution, labor, management lasting from five years to twenty years so it produces a continuous stream of income, spending and the economic multiplier effect.

[Fleshdancer]

18. It also creates non-physical labor jobs as well....

Obviously the numbers wouldn't be as high, but large infrastructure projects also need project managers, assistants, engineers, number crunchers, and probably a few other types of support staff as well to make sure the project runs smoothly.

[corruptmewithpower]

19. Infrastructure needs upkeep

Neglected infrastructure turns into ruins. May you find the employment you seek.

[4_TN_TITANS]

20. I would like to see the government tackle these jobs directly

without contractors and subcontractors siphoning off the money. Tennessee is a road contractor's wet dream, there is so much waste, fraud, and kickback. I'm afraid half the money allocated will get gobbled up before it ever reaches the hands of workers.

[muriel_volestrangler]

21. "U.S. stimulus plan would pour billions into health" - this is where you find your job

Economic stimulus plans being debated in Congress would pour billions into healthcare, propping up Medicaid, the government health insurance plan for the poor, and pushing doctors and hospitals to move from paper to computers.
...
$87 billion increase in the federal share for Medicaid, the joint state-federal health insurance plan for the poor. States have complained they are struggling to pay their share of the program because of lost tax revenues in the recession.

-- A $25 billion, 10-year injection to COBRA -- the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act that allows workers who lose their jobs and thus health insurance to keep the insurance.

$17.9 billion for health information technology such as electronic medical records and electronic prescribing. Doctors whose patient list is made up of at least 30 percent Medicaid patients will get a bonus of 85 percent of their costs. Hospitals with 10 percent Medicaid clients will get a bonus that has yet to be calculated. A similar plan would apply to providers to Medicare, the insurance program for the elderly.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/UKNews1/idUKTRE50S05320090129

More money into an existing program so it can run properly; and a new IT project. IT is infrastructure too.

[Hannah Bell]

23. healthcare is already 14% of gdp, & the majority of that is gov't funded.

personally, i don't think healthcare needs more dollars pumped into it to support insurance cos & hmo's.

i don't think you create a healthy, stable economy by giving each other x-rays & filling out paperwork.

[muriel_volestrangler]

26. The money's mainly going into Medicaid

not "insurance cos & hmo's".

Anyway, the OP was about finding a job for a particular DUer quickly, not the overall state of the economy.

[Hekate]

24. When I worked in County Public Works I was amazed at the scope of their mission...

... and how many different kinds of workers were needed. If you could touch it, the Public Works Department had a hand in it. INFRASTRUCTURE, BABY. As the director's secretary I had a ringside seat for two years, and remember the experience fondly.

There was the Director, of course, who by law had to be an engineer.
There were accountants, administrative assistants, word processors, one executive secretary (me).
Architects, road engineers and building engineers,
fleet maintenance, heavy equipment mechanics, heavy equipment operators,
electricians, heating and AC, facilities maintenance and repair,
waste management and recycling (the boss was very big into reducing the waste stream because the county had just had to buy a whole new canyon to fill with trash),
document control and building permit clerks, inspectors of all kinds including bridges and buildings,
skilled crafts, and on and on and on.
Road workers had to know how to handle emergency conditions, and when to back off and call in professional HazMat crews.

Many lucrative jobs were put out to bid, such as when a new building needed to be constructed from scratch or an old one retrofitted for new earthquake code compliance. This spread the jobs further out into the community of skilled tradesmen and support staff.

All that is but one chapter in the story of INFRASTRUCTURE. There are an abundance of desk jobs. Everyone had to be skilled at using computer software, and a separate department in the County took care of repair and databases for all the departments.

Good luck! You do have transferable skills.

Hekate