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One year after enactment, President Obama’s stimulus plan “is working and has helped our nation turn a corner,” says the president of one of North America’s largest building unions.
In a statement issued on the first anniversary of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Building and Construction Trades Department President Mark H. Ayers challenged critics who have questioned the measure’s impact.
“As the ARRA funds have worked their way through the economy over the past year, the economic freefall that defined our nation one year ago today has abated,” Ayers said. “In fact, the Council of Economic Advisors has found that the ARRA has had a positive impact on our nation’s GDP.
“Recent upticks in GDP growth are heartening for the U.S. construction industry, which is struggling with unprecedented unemployment that has now reached 25% nationwide, a number that would have certainly been greater had no action been taken.
“Despite its detractors, the evidence is clear: The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is working and has helped our nation turn a corner through sound investments that are creating jobs, tax cuts for the middle class, and much-needed COBRA and unemployment insurance benefits for working Americans.”
Government-led recovery efforts must be continue, however, Ayers said, “as we know there is no such thing as a jobless ‘recovery’.”
The Building and Construction Trades Department is an alliance of 13 national and international unions that collectively represent 2.5 million skilled craft professionals in the United States and Canada.
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