Research into the job benefits of infrastructure spending in Canada puts the number of jobs created for every $1 billion spent at 11,000, according to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM). The investment to fix roads, transit, water and wastewater creates jobs for laborers, material and machinery manufacturers, and other sectors. Further calculations place the value of income and sales tax from these jobs at 35 cents per dollar.
Impatience is the impetus for this study, as the pledge of $8.8 billion for Canadian infrastructure over seven years that was announced in 2007 has been slow to transfer to local government for projects. FCM has created an Infrastructure Calculator to help municipalities justify the benefits of local infrastructure investments to the nation’s economy.
Expect similar benefits to be touted broadly when Obama takes office. Obama outlined a plan to create a National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank that would invest $60 Billion over ten years on highways, transit and other projects. Not much has been said about this plan since it was announced in mid-February, but it’s likely to re-emerge as part of a stimulus package that has been declared a top priority.
