American Reinvestment Recovery Act: Job Impacts of Energy & Transportation Programs

Energy Dept. Funding. For the US Dept. of Energy, EDR Group (as part of the KEMA team) conducted a multi-year evaluation to examine the job impacts of American Reinvestment Recovery Act (ARRA) funding for the years 2009–2012, which supported DOE programs for energy efficiency and renewable investment.

This included two programs:

  • State Energy Program (SEP), which provides funding to state energy offices to help them advance their clean energy economy, and
  • Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG) Program, which provides grants to communities and states for energy efficiency and conservation projects that ultimately created jobs.

The nationwide study also evaluated the pre-ARRA program impacts as an indication of what program-related impacts are likely to revert to once ARRA funding ends. EDR Group was responsible for calculating the forecast of job impacts resulting from both short-term investment spending and from longer-term energy savings and fuel substitution effects.

SEP Full Report

EECBG Report

Econ Methodology — see Appendix

In addition to the federal study, EDR Group and Kema conducted a separate analysis for the California Energy Commission's ARRA programs, which included both job generation and energy price sensitivities associated with funding for various residential and commercial retrofits, workforce training, Clean Energy business financing, and fund for municipal and state facilities to increase energy-efficiency.

California Report, see pp.17–20

Transportation Dept. Funding. Funded by the National Cooperative Highway Research Program, EDR Group (together with Cambridge Systematics) conducted a multi-year evaluation to examine the job impacts of ARRA funding which supported DOT grants for highway, bridge, and safety improvements. The work by EDR Group developed a framework to measure total job impacts, inclusive of multiplier effects, related to construction spending for highway and bridge projects funded in part or in total by ARRA monies. This framework provided a model applicable for surface transportation project investments regardless of funding source. EDR Group evaluated differences in job reporting among different types of projects and different states.

Transportation Report