AGC Says Jobs Report Underscores Need for Stimulus

"Today's unemployment report--grim reading on all counts--is especially bad for construction and shows the urgency of enacting infrastructure spending as part of a stimulus bill," Ken Simonson, Chief
Economist for The Associated General Contractors of America (AGC), said Friday, Nov. 7 following a Bureau of Labor Statistics report that showed the unemployment rate for construction workers jumped to 10.8 percent last month.

"Construction had--by far--the highest unemployment rate of any industry and the largest increase, up from 6.1 percent a year ago," Simonson noted. "The industry accounted for nearly half of the million-plus jobs lost throughout the economy in the past 12 months.

"Many of those losses have been in heavy and civil engineering construction--highways and other public works," Simonson observed. "Those workers could quickly be re-employed if the states had enough money to award contracts for projects they have ready to go. Contrary to some assertions, this money would quickly make its way into the economy, supporting equipment and materials manufacturing and services jobs as well as construction. State officials say they have thousands of projects ready to award without long delays.

"AGC urges Congress to act this month on a stimulus package that includes funding for highway, bridge and other infrastructure work," Simonson stated. "In addition, the new Administration and Congress should give a high priority to renewing long-term highway, airport, water and wastewater funding bills next year.

While Barack Obama has said that infrastrucure improvements will be a cornerstone of  his  information, local construction leaders are taking that news with caution. The $60 billion Obama proposed, over the next decade nationwide would need a significant contribution from state and local investors in order to have much impact, Len Toenjes, president of Associated General Contractors of St. Louis told the St.Louis Post-Dispatch. "I'd hate to see people oversimplify this and think that a check is going to show up from the beltway and we're going to have all these new projects going," he said.

One example of the challenges was the defeat of the local proposition that could have built a new MetroLink line into western St. Louis County, Toenjes said.

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