Economists Broadly Support Biden's Infrastructure Plan as an Engine for Jobs & Economic Growth

Economists have started to weigh in on President Biden's infrastructure initiative and the response has been broadly supportive. It will dramatically ramp up employment opportunities for individuals with less than a college education, power long-term economic growth, and create a more competitive economy.

Reuters: "About 75% of the infrastructure jobs created would go to workers with no more than a high school diploma, while the rest would require an associate’s degree or higher, Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce (CEW) in Washington said in a report." ...

"CEW estimates the investment would create 8 million jobs for workers with a high school diploma or less and 4.8 million jobs for those with more than a high school diploma but less than a bachelor’s degree."

Axios: "Economists are becoming positively giddy about the potential for economic growth this year as President Biden and Congressional Democrats look set to push forward a $3 trillion infrastructure bill."

"Stimulus helps build the bridge for the recovery to reach the other side, but an investment in infrastructure is the fuel to jump start the economic engine," Beth Ann Bovino, U.S. chief economist at S&P Global, says in an email."

"S&P predicts Biden's infrastructure plan will create 2.3 million jobs by 2024, inject $5.7 trillion into the economy — which would be 10 times what was lost during the recession — and raise per-capita income by $2,400."

Moreover, doing nothing to fix the nation's crumbling infrastructure is no longer an option.

Voice of America: “Most economists are in agreement that the costs will be paid back in the economic productiveness of the expenditures, at least in their totality, if indeed it were to be passed as proposed,” said [Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst for Bankrate.com]. “There's an economic cost to the lack of investment, not only in infrastructure, but these other areas as well. And that needs to be part of the central argument. There's a cost to not doing it. And there's a benefit to doing it.”

Biden's plan also addresses racial and financial inequalities in the economy.

Reuters: "For example, new investments in transportation addresses highways that physically divided communities. The new plan includes $20 billion for a new program that reconnects neighborhoods and promotes access."

"There is also a $213 billion investment to produce, and retrofit more than 2 million affordable homes for low-income homebuyers and a plan to target 40% of the benefits of climate and clean infrastructure investments to disadvantaged communities."

Republicans will attack the plan because it relies on scaling back part of Trump's 2017 corporate tax cuts. In the short-run that might put a dent in corporate profits, but companies will garner tremendous advantages resulting from faster growth and the modern infrastructure they need to remain completive in the global economy. Make no mistake, corporate America will benefit greatly from Biden's plan and that will likely mute their opposition. Additionally, they realize this may be a once in a lifetime opportunity to get a bill through Congress to address the nation's infrastructure concerns.

#Biden #economics

By: Don Lam & Curated Content