More than 100,000 family-sustaining equipment manufacturing jobs can be created before the end of President Biden’s first term in office, according to the Association of Equipment Manufacturers. AEM says these are high-skilled jobs in primarily rural areas that pay an average annual income of $88,000, which is 35 percent above the current national average.
The data comes from a study by IHS Markit, which assumes new infrastructure spending will occur over eight years, beginning in 2022, with three-quarters of the spending taking place during the first five years. Finally, it assumes that the Surface Transportation Reauthorization Act of 2021 will pass in the fall of 2021 at a five-year total investment of $303 billion.
AEM’s Kip Eideberg says, “It is time for policymakers on both sides of the aisle to put policy ahead of politics and pass the bipartisan infrastructure framework and secure a five-year surface transportation reauthorization as soon as possible.”
(From the National Association of Farm Broadcasters)