Saturday, May 28, 2011

It's the Anti-WPA

What happened to all those "shovel ready" projects?  No New Deal or Works Progress Administration for our age.  We're taking the opposite approach to "job creation."  How is it working?  Here's one measure:

From the Journal International Construction:


Construction employment fell in 179 out of 337 (53%) of US metropolitan areas in April, compared to the position a year ago, according to analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC). Employment increased in 114 areas (34%) and was static in 44 (13%).

The AGC said the fall in employment was due to government cutbacks. "At a time when private sector construction activity appears to be on the mend, local, state and federal funding cuts for infrastructure projects may be forcing layoffs in many metro areas, " said AGC chief economist Ken Simonson.