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oocuMEN1S
ROOM
4-2259
FEDERAL WORKS AGEJ:CY
WOluC PROJZCTS iiLY!INISTR.ATION
For Release
Thursday, .A7:1-gust 7!, 1941
71,000 kPA EMPLOYEES DEVELOPING 278 DEF.Eil1SE AIRPORTS
~he WPA defen~e airport ' program, as the current fiscal
year began, employed 71,000 men on 278 sites certified as having
military importance, Howard
o.
Hu..llter, Co:mmissioner of Work Projects,
announced today.
A summary of the p1·0:<;ram discloses that projects with an
estimated completed value of noarly $130 ,000,000 were under way on
June 30.
The Work Projec ts J/:.min:'..st:..·c'. tion e.nd tho sponsors had spent
$60,000,000 on those proj e:ts, leav ing
$70t,ooo,ooo
worth of work to
complete the _activc program, which i s boing e:;.."1)0::U.t0dunder priority
instructions.
The figures exclude a le,rgo mu1100r of projects completed
within the last fiscal yc..ar, r t;ccntl;y- aj_.)proved. p:..·o joets on 11-Jhich work
had not ~ret st.ci.rtod and v1ork don:J by the Arrey and lhvy 1r1i th vrPA employees and transferred W?A funds.
Somo of the o,ir::_)orts covered in
the sunm1ary have additional fields of au.xili8Xy ne,ture where WPA
construction is also ~oing on.
nFor a year, since the national defense program began, WPA
I
steadily increased its airport program, 11 Mr . Hunter said.
11
It em-
ployed more than three times as many men on such projects during tho
last week of June as . a year before• although total WPA employment had
boon sharply reduced.
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11 In
spite of t he much lower average WPA employment planned
for this fiscal year, a hie;h level of employment o;-i airport construction' will continue, and the percentage of WPA workers on such jobs
• no doubt will be even higher .
11 The
278 sites and additional auxiliary fie).ds, all certified
by the Secre·tary of War or
NaVJ't
include many of t he 860 airport a:nd
landing fi eld sites on which WJ?A had already worked, expans ion o:i;
further improvements havi ng been request ed to moo t defense ne eds~
Many
arc new fields boin~ cons tructed for tho .Army and Navy on their own
res ervations or, at their rcquost, on civilian s ites of strategic i m~ortance.11
At a numbor of f ields in tho active WPA program , t he Civil
Aeronautics Admi nistrati on has been provi ding funds for various non-labor
o:icponditures
.
.
. and in some instances specific work by contra ct • . Tho two
agencies , Mr . Hunter explained• will continue to cooperate under the now
airport construction program recently announced by tho CAA, which i ncludes
additional improvements at many of tho si t os in tho current WPA r:i:;._•o gram.
Mr. Hunter also annom1ced that t ho Secretary of Wo.x has con-
tinued for the now fiscal year his certifica tion of airport sites already
designated as of milit8~Y importance, thus giving t hem certain priorities
•
in the operation of WPA projects as provide d in tho Emer gency Relief
Appropriation acts for this and the past fiscal yo~ .
Bln.nkot certification was extended 'b :.r tho Secrotc.ry n.t tho
same time to all si~cs to be developed t hrough WPA projects to Class 3
or Class 4 airports, as defined by tho Civil Aeronautics Administration•
or . capable of such development at a reas onab le expense at a later date ,
Mr~ HuntCJ.b i~{l-~al:Jy
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The sites now being developed are.locat~d in all States but
Delaware, with concentrations in the corners of the country.
Florida 1 s
active program is the largest, with 8,960 workers engaged in $15,000,000
worth of construction at 31 locatio~s.
The $8,386,000 California program
wa~ em.ploying 2,740 men on 17 sites, while Maine had 2,148 eng~ged _in
$7,235,000 worth of work on 16 sites.
~ashington State had $6,416,000
in projects employing 2,224 at 12 sites.
Other large WPA airport programs were those of Texas, 15 sites
and 3,507 workers; Alabama, 12 sites and _4,158 workers; and Massachusetts,
10 sites and _3,136 ~orkers.
in Louisiana, 2,251.
In Illinois, 3 1 521 men wor~ employed, and
WPA emp+oyed 8,283 at an air station and various
landing fields in Puerto Rico.
(The attached table su.mmoxizes the active WPA defense airport
prog-ram by States. Breakdown by projects is available on request~)
-oOo-
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ST.A!l1E $UNl1LA.RY, WP.A. AIRPORT k'JD .AIRWAY PROJECTS 1/, ACTIVE .AS OF JU?:!E 30, 1941,
AND CERTIFIED :BY THE SECRET.ARY OF WAR OR THE SECRET.ARY OF THE NAVY
.AS IMPORTA.'tff TO NATION.AL DEFEl;SE
Estimated
Cost g/
No. of
Sit'es
GR.AND TOT.AL
Expenditures
through
Ju.ne 30, 1941 E.f
Employment
June 25,
1941
~
$1~081,557
$ 59,354,496
71,039
12
12
4
2
2
5~743,167
1,473,'?50
887,046
3~832~462
4~553,713
2~363~513
2,886,434
5,013~999
15~020~448
2,641~729
. 357 ~106
5~624~374
2,349~531
549,694
4-16,589
424,627
2,6{4,941
7,235,436
3,749~420
4~560~592
2,086,401
7,140,303
2,520,251
. 941,054
1,826,558
822~476
231,934
1,194,704
. 566~437
1,114~634
. 534~519
2~942,102
1,979,999
564,797
2~189~561
2~828~298
1~659,575
1,465~315
552~578
530~492
432~593
149,486
4,991~784
1,415,504
876~117
1~257~223
6~415~789
2,413~969
884,778
259,768
3,030~666
26'7~548
. 527,060
1,034~581
3,412,017
986,072
1~037 ~607
3,983~770
7,808~043
1. 122,818
10L1,178
4,439,722
666,887
240~901
21':l,,046
412,291
1,067~592
1,911~355
1,698,854
2,276,457
926~503
1,702,297
928,025
139,470
646,613
367,288
122~625
783,936
156~ 582
377~316
379,247
522, 449
1,115,325
. 286,819
1,579,405
684~808
459,718
391~210
144~759
229~971
120~698
82,018
1,333,535
816,748
41~166
761~115
3,188,396
2,061~ 727
382,703
115,128
4~158
1,697
708
1;674
1,066
1,597
1,009
1~340
8,960
1,036
333
3,521
942
293
409
216
2~251
2~148
1~406
3~136
1~291
1, 470
1,717
571
875
650
49
379
260
340
100
1~254
1,020
357
1,672
986
784
517
55
524
213
115
3,507
916
264
1~010
2,224
792
332
145
3
2
1,006~436
2,917,551
282~544
1,981,887
467
8,283
Alabama
Arizona
Arkansas
Northern California
Southern California
Colorado
Connecticut
District of Colu..11bia
Florida
Georgia
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mis'sissippi
Missouri
;Montana
,Nebraska
.Nevada
}Tew Hampshire
·New Jersey
New Mexico
New York City
New York State
Jforth Carolina
}forth Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
.Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming
Hawaii
Puerto Rico
2
1
12
5
4
7
4
31
7
3
3
4
2
2
1
6
16
4
10
7
4
5
2
6
2
2
3
2
5
1
8
8
4
4
4
7
6
1
4
4
1
15
3
2
7
1./
Excludes 9-ata on aeronautical survey and airmarking projects and on WPA.
:projects o:perated by other Federal agencies and financed by allocatlon of
if.PA funds~ Excludes data for :projects completed prior to June 30, 1941.
~/
Financial data include both WP.A. and sponsors 1 funds~
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