Three academic researchers estimate that the localized job creation impacts resulting from the CHIPS and Science Act already have had a net gain of 12% in the affected counties. The direct jobs in the semiconductor sector alone are 15,000-16,000 short-term positions. With the high-paying nature of jobs in the field, researchers Bilge Erten, Joseph E. Stiglitz, and Eric Verhoogen estimate that, as a spillover effect, 15,000 to 30,000 additional indirect jobs have been created in related sectors, including semiconductor equipment and materials manufacturing, upstream input suppliers, and non-residential construction. The increased employment is significant given the sector’s strategic importance to supply chain resilience and national security. Not included in the study are the secondary employment effects as those wages recirculate in the affected counties (food, retail, services, entertainment, etc.).
The research presented in the paper, available in its entirety here, supports the policy hypothesis that targeted investments in high-tech industries can have broad benefits, making them a valuable tool for fostering technology-based economic development. The authors used a differences-in-differences approach with county-level data to explore evidence on the short-term labor-market effects of the Act, focusing on semiconductor manufacturing and related industries.