The COVID-19 pandemic has severely impacted communities, the health care system and the economy.
For the construction industry, the crisis has forced work stoppages, delayed projects and caused lost jobs throughout the country. While many businesses have been forced to shut down their operations to effectively mitigate the spread of the virus, these businesses cannot be allowed to fail. Thankfully, Congress has acted with swift, bipartisan approval of significant emergency relief totaling $2 trillion to assist our nation’s hospitals, businesses, as well as state and local communities.
CARES Act Provides Lifeboat
For many construction businesses, many with a majority of 500 or fewer employees—the most important source of relief is the passage of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, which includes the$349 billion Paycheck Protection Program that has provided forgivable loans for small businesses to keep employees on payroll as the industry works to get to the other side of this crisis. As of press time, Congress has provided an additional $310 billion for the PPP, and negotiations on further packages will continue to ensure that small businesses have access to the resources they need during this national emergency.
The CARES Act’s business tax provisions, including a change to the tax treatment of business losses, delays in estimated tax payments and technical corrections to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, are also all meant to provide additional, much-needed relief to construction businesses and in order to assist them with maintaining the liquidity necessary to get through this crisis.
The Federal Reserve also recently announced a new program, known as the Main Street Lending Program, authorized under the CARES Act, that will provide loans for small and mid-sized businesses with up to 10,000 employees.
These critical programs will hopefully ensure that construction companies impacted nationwide by this crisis will be able to keep their businesses operating and provide pay and benefits for all employees.
Construction as an Essential Service
In many parts of the country, construction has been deemed an essential service, and rightfully so. As ABC’s Vice President of Health, Safety, Environment and Workforce Development Greg Sizemore states, “Contractors will be needed to safely build, expand and maintain hospitals and health care facilities to care for COVID-19 victims, […]safely retrofit existing structures for emergency use, modify manufacturing facilities due to increased demand for medical supplies and provide new transportation corridors for people and materials.”
As construction professionals work to provide these critical services, their safety and the safety of those in the communities they work are of the utmost importance to ABC and its member companies.
While the federal response to this crisis continues, many in construction are looking toward the light at the end of the tunnel and the eventual recovery of the economy. One of the main issues discussed to aid in the nation’s recovery has been enactment of a substantial infrastructure package to address much-needed repair and modernization of the nation’s transportation infrastructure.
A significant investment in federal construction accounts and programs will also facilitate the maintenance of essential infrastructure during this public health crisis, helping sustain economic activity and accelerating the economic recovery efforts after the immediate effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have passed.
The many benefits of infrastructure spending arguably outweigh the costs. Every $1 billion in extra construction spending on infrastructure generates an average of at least 3,300 construction jobs, and future generations will reap the rewards of strategic infrastructure investments in schools, water treatment plants and energy production, which have been found to improve quality of life, the environment and opportunity for all Americans.
A Business Roundtable report has found that every dollar invested in infrastructure creates $3.70 in economic growth over 20 years.
While leaders do not yet know the full impact that this health crisis will have on the country, the initial, unprecedented response to maintain businesses will hopefully prevent a larger economic collapse and save the jobs of millions of Americans.
Safety Will be Key
Most critically, though, construction recognizes that ensuring the safety and health of our nation’s workforce will be vital to a strong economic recovery. Continuing to leverage existing and establishing new industry best practices that allow us to implement enhanced measures recommended by local health officials and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will help us to achieve this goal and keep our construction employees safe and healthy.
As we continue to learn more about this virus and additional guidance is provided, construction is committed to adapting to these new requirements to support a renewed sense of safety and security for all in our industry to achieve a safe, productive workforce in construction, and ensure jobsites can be run safely and effectively in this new environment.
