California's construction industry will get a major boost from the federal stimulus package. But a new study predicts new spending on construction will do little to reduce the high number of uninsured workers. KPBS Reporter Kenny Goldberg has more.
The Center on Policy Initiatives looked at the construction industry at the height of the economic boom in 2005.
Just 35 percent of construction workers had employer-provided health insurance.
CPI's Murtaza Baxamusa wrote the study. He says the construction industry could help stimulate the economy.
"But what we need to ensure," says Baxamusa, "Is that as the economy starts rolling, we do not fall into the trap of the last economic recovery, in which we created another problem: that of health insurance crisis."
Baxamusa says about one out of four construction workers were uninsured in 2005. That's the highest rate of any industry in California.
Kenny Goldberg, KPBS News.
