Marty: The Hoover Dam revisited in 2011

Every politician wants to rebuild the Hoover Dam – at least metaphorically. At one time the national frustration phrase was, “If we can put a man on the moon why can’t we…?” Now the moon is “old cheese” and we’re invoking the Hoover Dam, but could we even build it today?
A private company under government contract constructed the Hoover Dam in five years, from 1931 to 1936, two years ahead of schedule and in budget at the cost of less than $50 million, within 0.05 percent of the original government estimate. This would certainly present challenges for 2011.
The Economist’s Lexington blog points out that Michael Hiltzik, the dam’s modern historian, says in his book “Colossus” that we probably could not build it today because back then “no one cared about the down-river rights of the southwestern Indians, let alone the Mexicans, or the creatures whose habitats were eradicated when the river was dammed.” Conservative commentator George Will had the short version, “You couldn’t build [it] today because they’d discover a snail darter in the Colorado River and would stop it.”
Let’s say those serious – perhaps insurmountable – hurdles just disappeared. Using the government’s Consumer Price Index, CPI, calculator, $50 million would equal $750 million today. Does anyone believe we could build the dam or $750 million or even 10 times that, $7.5 billion?
Thanks to the Department of the Interior, we know exactly what the workers earned in 1931; it ranged from 50 cents an hour for helpers, muckers, and dumpmen to $1.25 an hour for shovel operators. The average was about 62.5 cents and their average annual income was $1,825, which means many were working seven days a week.
No wonder it came in early.
Inflating those wages to 2011 equals $26,325 a year for 56 hours a week of backbreaking and often dangerous work that resulted in more than 100 construction associated deaths not including “illness.” If the snail darter doesn’t shut it down, OSHA certainly would. Let’s skip that too. Safety is much better today as it should be, but it comes with a cost.
There was no Social Security or Medicare and no retirement or healthcare in 1931 except for company nurses and doctors. However, those were very good jobs at the time. Civil Service employees were averaging $1,234 a year in 1931, which equates to only $18,525 today.
Construction employment peaked at 5,251 in 1934. Assuming the average labor force was 5,000 – it was less – the annual payroll would have be only $132 million in 2011 dollars. The five-year modern total, $660 million, equals a minuscule 0.08 percent of the current $800 billion stimulus package.
On a CPI basis, we should have enough stimulus funding to pay for more than 1,000 Hoover Dams, but that does not reflect the real world. Skilled workers have made giant strides in relative pay, and benefits, so giant that we’ve just priced ourselves out of many opportunities; unskilled workers have not done nearly as well.
Technically, we could build Hoover Dam today, but even ignoring the environmental and water rights issues, it would take a long time and cost an incredible amount. The Hoover Dam remains a fantastic accomplishment; however, as the Economist said, it’s “no panacea for modern ills.”
Footnote: The dam’s new bypass and bridge were completed with one fatality in five years and eight months, two years behind schedule but within the original $240 million budget due to falling material prices. One primary contractor was the U.S. division of a Japanese construction company.
Marty Richman is a Hollister resident.