American Road and Transportation Builders Association - Economics and Research

Economics and Research

The U.S. transportation design and construction industry generates more than $200 billion in economic activity annually and sustains 2.5 million American jobs. As the money invested in transportation construction industry employment and purchases moves through the U.S. economy, it generates over $380 billion in total annual economic activity for the nation—nearly 3 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product. It is a critically important industry at the core of the American economy. Most industries and services in the United States depend on the nation's transportation network, which is designed and built by ARTBA members.

Each year, firms in highway, bridge, transit, rail, airport, and waterway construction make billions of dollars in business and investment decisions. According to U.S. Census Bureau data, there are more than 1,316,974 individual business establishments and public agencies directly involved, at least partially, in transportation infrastructure design, construction or management activities in the United States.

Transportation construction in the United States supports the equivalent 3,383,000 full‐time jobs. This includes 1,685,000 direct jobs in transportation construction and related activities and 1,698,000 jobs induced, or sustained, by transportation construction industry employee, firm and agency spending throughout the U.S. economy. More than 78.6 million American jobs in just tourism, manufacturing, transportation and warehousing, agriculture and forestry, general construction, mining, retailing and wholesaling alone are dependent on the work done by the U.S. transportation construction industry.

The ARTBA Economics and Research team, which has more than 50 years of combined experience, develops reports, analyses, and other products that are designed to give industry executives and market analysts the information they need to make certain those decision are intelligent and well-informed.

ARTBA's subscription-based intelligence reports provide monthly and quarterly information covering every angle of the transportation design and construction market. The association also produces other studies and reports, which are available to its members and news journalists, on industry employment, the cost of construction materials, state gasoline taxes, an annual highway construction market forecast and much more.