ODOT Contractors report more Ohio jobs created and saved by stimulus investments

Columbus- Ohio contractors on stimulus-funded transportation projects are reporting 5,444 construction and office workers received paychecks in the month of September alone, as a direct result of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). 

The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) reported the September job data to the Federal Highway Administration this week, as required under the Recovery Act. ODOT requires all contractors to complete monthly reports on the direct, on-the-project workers associated with stimulus-funded projects. 

For the month of September, Ohio contractors reported 5,444 direct workers on stimulus-funded projects, clocking in a total of 236,270 hours on the job and earning a total payroll of $7,324,269.40. 

The September numbers build on reports from July showing 1,414 workers earning $1.8 million for the month and from August showing 2,247 workers earning $2.9 million for the month. 

This month-by-month data only includes employees (including full-time, part-time and seasonal jobs) actively engaged in stimulus-funded projects on the jobsite, in the project office, in the home office or other alternative office locations. This data does not include indirect jobs (jobs created by suppliers) or induced jobs (jobs created in the community as a result of a federal stimulus project). 

With the addition of this direct information from contractors, ODOT is updating its recent reporting on the number of full-time equivalent jobs created or retained by the stimulus, as reported to the federal Office of Management and Budget. 

On October 10, Ohio met the first federal reporting requirement under Section 1512 of the Recovery Act for ARRA loans, grants and contracts spending data. For the ARRA Section 1512 report, prime recipients such as ODOT have been directed to compute jobs as full-time equivalents. Therefore, if two half-time jobs are created or retained, this must be reported as one-full time job. 

The preliminary data submitted by ODOT showed that 304 full-time equivalent positions were directly created or retained as part of the 13,144 total positions in Ohio as a result of Recovery Act funds. This calculation did not include data from the month of September. ODOT's updated calculation now shows that 812.42 full-time equivalent positions were created or saved on transportation stimulus construction projects through the month of September. 

 

States were able to review their submissions and make any necessary data corrections. The federal government will review the states' reports and post the final results to www.recovery.gov on October 30. 

 

To date, ODOT has awarded more than $507.5 million in stimulus-funded contracts on 154 state and local projects.