Efficiency First

Downturn in construction employment presents historic opportunity to build a new clean energy economy

An interactive map and memo jointly produced by the Center for American Progress and Efficiency First’s research arm, the Home Performance Resource Center, clearly illustrates the dire state of the American construction sector – a situation the memo describes as a “tool belt recession.” The memo also outlines the capacity of the Home Performance retrofit industry to quickly generate new employment opportunities for American workers in construction and manufacturing.

Citing the January construction unemployment rate of 24.7 percent and an overall loss of 2.1 million construction jobs since 2006, the memo explains how underutilized capacity in construction and building materials manufacturing can be put to work improving the energy efficiency of American homes:

Looking across the current economic landscape, there are few areas where construction industry jobs seem poised to grow. There is one significant exception, however, in the area of energy efficient retrofits of our nation’s building stock. A program that incentivizes energy improvements would rapidly create jobs within the construction industry directly, and in retail, manufacturing, and local economic activity as well.

The memo goes on to describe how the proposed HOME STAR efficiency retrofit program could achieve this goal:

Smart public policy can help overcome current barriers to private investment in more energy efficient buildings and jumpstart jobs and growth in the construction trades and supporting industries. Currently, Congress is considering HOME STAR, a program of consumer incentives that provides a rebate to homeowners who invest directly in improving energy efficiency. HOME STAR would give homeowners a direct rebate when they buy a new efficient hot water heater, furnace, or air conditioning system, and it could cut the cost nearly in half of replacing leaky windows, sealing duct work, and insulating attics for millions of American homes. Building consumer demand for energy retrofits through HOME STAR will not only give consumers a rebate of as much as $3,000 to $8,000 and
long-term savings on their energy bills, but it will create new demand for construction jobs, putting contractors back to work.

HOME STAR would be fast acting and use the existing marketplace to deliver retrofits to consumers with a minimum of new government overhead. It also builds a well-trained workforce and expands consumer demand for high-quality retrofits that provide guaranteed energy savings of 20 percent or more off existing energy bills. This is a policy that works rapidly to create urgently needed jobs today, even as it builds the robust industry that we will need for the future.

“Current unemployment levels in the building and construction trades have reached crisis proportions,” the memo concludes. “It is time for a national program to roll back these job losses and put hardworking Americans in the construction industry back on the job, rebuilding America for a clean-energy future that saves consumers money, improves health and comfort, and creates lasting value in our communities.”

View the interactive map showing state-by-state declines in construction employement:

www.americanprogress.org/issues/2010/03/construction_jobs.html

Read “Taking on the Tool Belt Recession” here:

www.americanprogress.org/issues/2010/03/tool_belt_recession.html