New Hampshire’s Economic Stimulus

The U.S. House and Senate have passed the humongous economic stimulus spending bill, which the President will sign into law. You can go to plenty of other blogs and news sources for arguments for and against this initiative. Whether you think this is necessarily forceful or ineptly wasteful spending one thing is for certain — many of those dollars are coming to New Hampshire. To be exact $610 million for jobs, $250 million for Medicaid, all told $2.12 billion in federal spending and tax breaks.

For those of us interested in the state’s employment scene it’s useful to know where these dollars are actually going and for what purposes. Perhaps, you’re one of those recently laid off, fearful of being so, or want to get ahead of the hiring curve. Here are some things to pay attention to.

Gov. Lynch has created an Office of Economic Stimulus and has tapped a deputy attorney general Bud Fitch to head it. His job is to help the governor and state agencies know how to manage and expend the federal bucks. Let’s hope and expect that there will be complete transparency in this office, so that we can track state government’s priorities.

We should see some degree of stimulus relatively soon. Nationally, 74% of the funds are to be pushed into the economy within eighteen months and 91% by October 2011. Tax cuts aimed primarily at low and middle income earners and increased unemployment benefits should start being felt soon. This influx will be helpful with retailers.

But with regards to industry employment, who is being targeted? According to Sen. Shaheen we can expect the following to receive money:

Schools–  $295 million is going to schools and public colleges. Teachers can breathe a sigh of relief. What may have been a lot of lay offs looks to be averted. With Baby Boomers continuing to retire there will be spots for young educators and career changers wanting in. Also, education dollars for Special Ed and Head Start will be available. Good news for those who want a real instructional challenge. And with support heading to the state’s colleges they will be better positioned to accommodate the increased enrollments that usually occur during recessions.

Energy– $49.7 million is going toward weatherization and state energy programs. Opportunities are expected in making more efficient everything from old buildings and windows to air conditioning and heat pumps. Development of wind turbines, solar panels, and better batteries will mean new jobs for many. NH has a workforce capable of grabbing their fair share of these jobs.

Infrastructure– $197 million is going into infrastructure improvements covering everything from roads, bridges, drinking and waste water systems, to rehabilitating and constructing new buildings. These should be well paying jobs sending dollars into the peripheral economy while improving our surroundings.

Additional funds are headed for mass transit and law enforcement. This could be a boon for those workers ready to move into these spots. While not forgetting that long term economic sustainability rests on the generation of private capital, in the short term there would appear to be some employment relief for those ready to respond. Remember, if you snooze, you very well may lose.

Bill Ryan