Investing in infrastructure can stimulate economic growth and unleash job creation across the nation. Whether building roads, repairing pipes, or upgrading power plants, investments in the country’s transportation, water, energy, and broadband systems not only supports more economic output, but also drives the need for more workers. Several new pieces of federal legislation—including the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), and the CHIPS and Science Act—are pumping hundreds of billions of dollars toward new projects and new jobs, and are launching generational levels of investment not seen since the New Deal. But federal, state, and local leaders risk squandering this generational window of infrastructure investment if they focus solely on future job creation without addressing the cracking foundation of the country’s current workforce.

On Wednesday, January 25, Brookings Metro will host an event highlighting federal, state, and local perspectives on accessing new funding to address the country’s infrastructure workforce needs. The conversation builds off of new Brookings Metro research that measures the scale of these workforce needs and explains how state and local leaders can use infrastructure funding for workforce development efforts. Two panels—comprised of federal agencies and state/national thought leaders—will examine challenges and opportunities to accelerate workforce development efforts nationally.

Viewers can submit questions by emailing events@brookings.edu or tweeting to @BrookingsMetro using the hashtag #InfraInvestments.

If you are attending in person, Brookings requires all staff and visitors to show proof that they are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 via vaccines approved by the FDA or WHO. After submitting your registration, please proceed to the provided link on the confirmation page to complete the registration process by verifying your vaccination information.