Trillion Dollar Infrastructure Proposals Could Create Millions of Jobs: Will the New Jobs Lead to Sustainable Careers?

President Donald Trump has proposed to spend up to $1 trillion over the next 10 years on America’s infrastructure, including transportation, energy, telecommunications, and border security. If enacted, the infrastructure program could put the United States back on a prerecession job growth path and create more than 11 million jobs. These jobs will consist of both those directly related to infrastructure – including jobs for tradesmen, construction workers, and material moving and transportation workers – as well as downstream jobs only somewhat related to infrastructure, such as in offices and retail services. Infrastructure-related jobs, which now comprise 12 percent of jobs in the U.S. economy, would increase temporarily to 14 percent of jobs. Moreover, the president’s proposal would revive, at least temporarily, the blue-collar economy. This would be a marked shift in the recent trajectory of the workforce. In the peak years of the post-World War II blue-collar economy in the 1970s, 72 percent of jobs required no more than a high school education. Today, only 34 percent of jobs in the economy require a high school diploma or less. President Trump’s proposal temporarily would increase the number of jobs that require high school or less by 6.3 million jobs. This report discusses the jobs, education, training, and skills implications of implementing major infrastructure overhaul.

Language

  • English

Media Info

  • Media Type: Digital/other
  • Features: Figures; References; Tables;
  • Pagination: 16p

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 01678090
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Files: TRIS
  • Created Date: Aug 20 2018 9:21AM