Could The President’s New Infrastructure Plan Create 11 Million New Jobs? New Research Suggests It Could
President Donald Trump has announced the principles of his new plan for infrastructure investment. The White House says this plan is vital to the American economy since U.S. infrastructure has fallen to 12th in the world. What would the president’s plan do exactly? And why is infrastructure investment so important?
Let’s start with the president’s plan, which would:
- Spur private sector investment by “dramatically” reducing the permitting time for infrastructure projects from 10 years to two years.
- Invest $200 billion in taxpayer funding for infrastructure projects, including $25 billion for projects in rural areas. The White House says this $200 billion taxpayer investment could be leveraged for a $1 trillion investment.
- Invest in a workforce training program that would produce more than one million apprentices in two years to help build infrastructure.
American voters strongly support new infrastructure investments. A poll conducted by Morning Consult for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce found 55 percent of voters want the federal government to invest more in airports and runways and 54 percent want more investment in ship ports and canals. Nearly three-quarters, 72 percent, want the federal government to invest in infrastructure of all types. The support is bipartisan: at least 60 percent of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents want Congress to work on an infrastructure package. Today, infrastructure-related jobs comprise 12 percent of jobs in the U.S. economy.
According to a recent Georgetown University study, a $1 trillion investment in new infrastructure would create more than 11 million jobs over the next 10 years. More than half of these new jobs, 55 percent, would go to individuals who have a high school degree or less. For individuals with only a high school degree, the study says these jobs would pay an average of $40,000 a year. For individuals with an associate’s degree, the new jobs would pay an average of $50,000 annually.