Even as the construction industry faces double digit unemployment rates in today’s struggling economy, the AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust (HIT) continues to generate family-supporting union construction jobs through its investments around the country. The 14 HIT-financed projects currently under construction represent more than 5.1 million hours of work for members of local building and construction trades unions in a dozen communities.
“In this economy, with unemployment in the construction industry being at record levels, utilizing union pension funds to finance construction is extremely important,” said Michael A. Hawthorne, Business Manager for the Minneapolis Building and Construction Trades Council. “First, it puts our union members to work, and secondly, it creates additional pension monies to reinvest in future projects.”
HIT’s Chief Operating Officer Ted Chandler said these high unemployment rates “make the HIT’s job-generating investments all the more critical,” adding that “an infusion of millions of dollars of pension capital into local communities goes a long way toward stimulating economic recovery.”
