According to the American Society of Civil Engineers’ 2021 “Report Card for America’s Infrastructure,” the United States received an overall C- grade for the state of its infrastructure. Every spring, the nation’s student bodies, businesses, organizations, and local governments (including federal) receive a report card measuring performance.
The report acknowledges the nation’s inadequately updated infrastructure, including the electrical grid. The American Jobs Plan presented by President Joe Biden will cost roughly $2 trillion. Around $698 billion is set aside for the electrical grid, water systems, broadband, school systems, and more.
Funded by an increase in the corporate tax rate (21 percent increased 28 percent), there are many unknowns about how the plan will pan out through the upcoming months. With significant push-back in the Senate expected, the plan could eventually be scaled back.
Biden said that his vision of “building back better” could lead to the creation of “up to 16 million good-paying jobs,” in his May 6 speech in Lake Charles, LA. Biden described it as a “blue-collar blueprint to rebuild America and supercharge our economy.”
James Farrell, executive director of government affairs for the National Electrical Contractors Association, is a proponent of the proposed plan. He said, “The state of our infrastructure is a mess, and we’re at a major disadvantage in terms of its efficiency, quality, and safety when compared to many developed countries. The American Jobs Plan is a very ambitious proposal that will help rebuild and modernize our nation’s infrastructure, and, if this plan or any infrastructure plan is enacted with significant federal resources, it would be a huge boost to the electrical construction industry.”
Farrell said, among its many benefits, “We anticipate a number of jobs to be created as projects roll out from the infrastructure plan over the next few years, as economic studies show that every $1 billion in infrastructure investment creates 28,500 direct and indirect jobs, providing our economy and American taxpayers with a high return on investment.”
With more electricians exiting the industry than joining each year, electrical contracting is seeing a well-known shortage of skilled labor. By 2024, as many as 85,000 unfulfilled positions will be available, according to recent forecasts by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics. The investment proposed in the plan could lead to between $100- to $200-billlion in electrical contracting activity, along with up to 600 million incremental worker-hours.
J&P Electrical is a full-service electrical equipment company. At J&P, we supply contractors, end-users, and supply houses with new surplus, quality reconditioned, and obsolete electrical equipment. We also purchase a wide range of electrical equipment such as bus plugs, ducts, panel switches, substations, and transformers. Call us at 877-844-5514 or visit us at https://www.jpelectricalcompany.com.
Written by the digital marketing staff at Creative Programs & Systems: www.cpsmi.com.