The folks over at SoftwareAdvice.com just released an interesting analysis of the effects of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) on construction employment on a state by state basis. Though the data presented is interesting, I think it creates more questions than it answers. For instance, if you look at the two subsets of data below two questions pop to mind; 1- What has Massachusetts figured out that makes it so much more efficient at turning stimulus dollars into construction jobs? 2- It’s no surprise that California is one of the most expensive places to create construction jobs (or do just about anything, for that matter) but they really stick out when you compare them in size and population density to the second through fifth states in the “Cost per Construction Job” ranking.
| Top Job Generators | ||||
| State | Amount Awarded | Amount Received | Jobs Created | Cost per job |
| MA | $1,500 | $361 | 5174 | $69,831 |
| NY | $2,900 | $838 | 5108 | $164,101 |
| TX | $2,500 | $1,300 | 4199 | $325,891 |
| CA | $3,700 | $2,200 | 4197 | $535,171 |
| OH | $1,500 | $462 | 3820 | $120,908 |
| Most Expensive Jobs per Stimulus Dollar | ||||
| State | Amount Awarded | Amount Received | Jobs Created | Cost per job |
| CA | $3,700 | $2,200 | 4197 | $535,171 |
| CT | $324 | $221 | 432 | $511,053 |
| NH | $221 | $128 | 284 | $448,984 |
| LA | $723 | $420 | 1056 | $397,895 |
| SC | $810 | $366 | 941 | $389,290 |
Tags: construction, road construction, stimulus money, stimulus projects
November 11, 2009 at 1:03 pm |
Whoa, that really puts some things into perspective. I’m sad though, that much of this money is coming to MA (in parcticular) near close to winter when the money won’t nessesarily do the most good.
I just thought the whole thing was poor timing.
November 17, 2009 at 12:33 pm |
Very interesting statistics, thanks for sharing. I agree creating jobs and spending this money wisely in CA, is something that will be very difficult to do responsibly. I hope that this initiative works out for everyone involved and projects can be found, jobs created, and projects to be completed effectively and efficiently.