Heather Boushey, Chief Economist, Investing in America Cabinet
Two years ago, President Biden signed into law the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which makes historic and much–needed investments in improving transportation infrastructure, modernizing the electric grid, expanding access to high-speed internet, cleaning up legacy pollution, replacing lead pipes, and building a clean energy economy. The law also includes Build America, Buy America requirements to ensure the domestic manufacturing of construction materials including iron and steel and to incentivize the domestic production of electric vehicle charging stations, fiber optic cable for high-speed internet, and water infrastructure parts. In the short run, researchers have projected that the law will support hundreds of thousands of jobs, primarily in construction and manufacturing. In the long run, the law is designed to enhance productivity and deliver broad-based economic growth.
While many of the economic benefits of the legislation will play out over the coming years and decades, job gains in construction industries suggest that some benefits have already begun to emerge.
The construction sector is highly cyclical, with employment growing during economic expansions and declining during recessions. Consistent with this trend, the economy has added 670,000 jobs in construction since President Biden took office in January 2021—an average of 20,000 jobs per month. This is a slightly faster pace than in the years...
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