July 2014

COMMUNITIES: GOVERNMENT
Infrastructure Jobs Offer Broad Economic Benefits

The size of the workforce responsible for supporting US infrastructure is much larger than traditionally thought, according to a report from Brookings.

The report examines the impact of infrastructure jobs, highlighting economic effects for more than just construction of assets. Here are some of the findings:

• One in 10 Americans holds an infrastructure job.

• Infrastructure sectors include intrametro transportation (for example, local roads and bridges), intermetro transportation (for example, passenger rail and airports), trade and logistics, energy, water, telecommunications, and public works.

• Only 15% of infrastructure workers are involved with construction, while 77% are in operation. Six percent are in design, fewer than 2% in governance.

• The largest infrastructure labor markets in the country are New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago.

• Infrastructure jobs offer more equitable wages than other occupations. Infrastructure workers at lower ends of the income scale earn 30% more than all workers at those levels nationally.

• 59 of 95 infrastructure occupations pay above-average wages overall. Air traffic controllers, nuclear engineers, and marine engineers/naval architects lead the way.

• Many infrastructure jobs require less formal education, which makes them accessible to a large pool of workers. Only 12% of workers employed in infrastructure occupations hold a bachelor’s or higher degree.

• Infrastructure jobs are projected to increase 9% over the next decade, led by fast-growing occupations such as wind turbine service technicians and solar photovoltaic installers.

• More than 1.1 million new infrastructure jobs are expected to emerge between now and 2022.

• Nearly one-quarter of the infrastructure workforce will need to be replaced in the next 10 years due to retirements and other labor shifts.

“Policymakers have often resorted to stimulus-style spending on infrastructure construction projects as a way to shore up the labor market,” says Robert Puentes, director of the Metropolitan Infrastructure Initiative at the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program and report coauthor. “This kind of investment provides only short-term jobs, though. With the right investment approach, however, infrastructure offers an extremely effective way to create the kind of long-term, sustainable jobs that will help grow our economy for many years to come.”

Read Beyond Shovel Ready: The Extent and Impact of U.S. Infrastructure Jobs at www.brookings.edu.