Feb 05 Project lacks clear jobs data

The Pinecone Road extension in the St. Cloud area has generated a lot of interest and questions.

My husband dubbed it “Obama Road” after seeing a sign that noted President Obama’s $800 billion-plus American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provided the $1.6 million to extend it from the Sartell border at Stearns County Road 120 to Stearns County Road 134. Nationwide, about $30 billion in stimulus funds were designated for roads and bridge repairs considered “shovel-ready.”

How many jobs were produced by this local project? Was this a wise use of taxpayer money? How does it address the nation’s long-term infrastructure needs? And how does the administration determine if jobs were created or retained?

With unemployment lingering in the double digits, jobs and the economy are foremost on minds.

According to Stephen Gaetz, director of public services for St. Cloud, it is hard to answer questions about Pinecone jobs without an operational definition of “job,” especially as it concerns the seasonal nature of the construction industry.

Gaetz reported 162 workers worked “from a few hours to several weeks” for a total of 4,528 hours. That comes out to about 28 hours per worker. One can say this is good, but it’s not even close to 162 full-time jobs — 40 hours a week year-round.

Construction jobs are certainly not like all other jobs, but the administration simply uses the vague word “jobs,” blending them with other kinds of work. Overall, it’s a mistake to use an undefined term like “jobs” as a metric to measure the stimulus. It’s too ambiguous.

The Associated Press looked into the data reported on the Recovery.gov Web site and found many jobs were temporary. In other cases, someone getting a raise was credited as a job retained.

For the Pinecone extension, Gaetz said that due to the nature of construction, some people worked only a day or so on the project.

There were a number of different contractors from the excavator to the concrete pourer to the paving and landscape contractors to the electrical workers. Some poured concrete for only one day.

Again, without a workable definition of “job,” it is hard to unravel the question of “created” or “retained.”

I also wrote to Kristen Morrell from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development. She wrote that the money “was used to augment existing programs that help people who are unemployed and looking for work.”

She cited a public works program for water projects called the Public Facilities Authority that used $107 million and “created or retained 178 construction jobs.” For how long did those jobs last? Projects take six months to two years, she answered. Not all of the 178 workers work that long.

Gaetz said the Pinecone extension wasn’t considered a high-priority project by the city of St. Cloud. Much of the benefit comes to residents of Sartell who drive into St. Cloud.

Without the stimulus, the Pinecone project might have languished for quite some time.

Gaetz did say the project created a lot of work for people, and they were very thankful for this work.

But while the road provides some benefits, there might have been better places to use the money. The issue was one of getting a project that could start right away.

Gaetz said it sounded like stimulus money would go for improving transportation. However, only 4 percent ultimately went to this end. In the event of a second stimulus — or a “jobs bill,” as the Obama administration calls its new $100 billion proposal — there are plans for projects, including the West Metro Corridor Improvement project on Veterans Drive and replacing the Sauk River bridge.

But will doing more of the same thing for less money prove any more stimulating than last year’s bill? And can we afford it?