Multi-Year Model

Hi Andrew. Thank you for your post. We would recommend that you model the construction impacts during each year of the project. This will allow you to see the project’s impact as they unfold. Typically, with many construction projects, the expenditures are not evenly distributed. Meaning that the majority of the expenditures will occur during the first two to three years of the project and declining in the latter years as the project nears completion. In terms of aggregating the output results from annual models, this should not be a problem. The IMPLAN software provides an easy way to aggregate results from various scenarios in your model. It is always better to have granular details and then roll up your results into aggregate results than it is to try and disaggregate the results. Concerning how to interpret and report employment, we suggest that you report jobs on a per year basis and not total jobs over the life of the project. It is often tempting to report total jobs. That is, if a project is believed to create 25 jobs over a four-year period, then the way to report this is to say about 25 jobs annually will result from this project. Some might be tempted to multiply 25 times 4 years and say 100 jobs, leading some to think that 100 jobs each year will be created which is not accurate. And yes, the annual average jobs represent the jobs created in the local economy that are supported by each year of the construction project? We hope this answers your questions.