An AP-commissioned study released today said the
money did nothing to effect the national unemployment rate.
If you, like many Snipsmag.com
visitors, were skeptical that the billions the federal government announced it
would spend on "shovel-ready" construction projects would have little
effect on the nation's employment rate, go ahead and say "I told you
so."
The Associated Press says you were right. An AP-commissioned study released
today said the money did nothing to effect the national unemployment rate and
had little effect on state and local work rates as well.
The study notes that in addition to having little effect on unemployment
overall, it didn't have any effect on the high unemployment rates of
construction industry workers outside of transportation, which is a very small
part of the overall industry.
That explains why it has been so hard to find sheet metal contractors who have
directly benefited from the $787 billion stimulus bill passed early in
President Barack Obama's term. It also helps explain why the unemployment rate
among sheet metal and HVAC workers remains stubbornly high and may be rising.
And it’s probably part of the reason that I haven't had many readers e-mail or
call when I asked to hear about any stimulus-funded projects they were involved
in. The links on our Web page directing visitors to our listings of stimulus
work were very busy - at least at first. I don’t know how popular they are now.
I am disappointed, but not
surprised. You can read the complete
AP
story here.
Show me the jobs! Oh wait. There aren't any

Michael McConnell is the former editor of Snips. Michael had been with BNP Media since April 2000. Prior to joining BNP, he was an award-winning staff writer with Heritage Newspapers, a chain of suburban weeklies covering the region south and west of Detroit. Since becoming editor in 2003, he has maintained the publication’s focus on the people of the sheet metal and HVAC industries and extended it to the Internet through Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and Google Plus.
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