Of those private-sector businesses surveyed by APTA, 80% indicated that the level of federal investment in public transportation has a major impact on their firm's revenue.

The employment consequences of never-ending delay on enacting a highway and transit reauthorization could be significant, APTA notes, with 50% of survey respondents predicting that they will lay off employees and 49% predicting hiring freezes if Congress fails to enact a well-funded, long-term bill soon. (The 2005 transportation authorization law known as "SAFETEA-LU" expired Sept. 30, 2009, and has been temporarily extended six times at Fiscal Year 2009 funding levels. The latest extension expires March 4.)

"As unemployment rates stay stubbornly high, public transportation is a smart investment that creates and supports jobs, while improving our communities," APTA President William Millar said in a statement. "Conversely, the survey shows that Congress' delay in passing an authorization bill has the opposite effect -- forcing private-sector businesses to lay off employees and to invest overseas."

Patrick Scully, chief commercial officer of Daimler Buses North America, said that a reauthorization bill would offer stability.

"Congressional action would provide much-needed certainty to our industry to allow transit agencies the needed time horizon for long-term capital planning," he said, "which in turn should turn into vehicle procurements and thus would help our business know how much we can invest in human capital and other resources."

Jeffrey Wharton, president of IMPulse NC, which manufactures overhead electrification contact systems for light-rail and trolley systems, reiterated that investments in public transit will help to put America to work.

"With increased federal investment, we hope to increase our payroll, while also expanding jobs for our subsuppliers," Wharton said.

Wharton went to China in December to explore business opportunities there due to the decline in the U.S. market. While only 5% of IMPulse's business is overseas, Wharton said the company will have to make a sizable shift if a reauthorization bill is not passed by Congress in the next few months.

More than 75 of APTA's private-sector business members were surveyed for the report. The four-page survey summary is at bit.ly/APTAsurvey0211.

Construction Spending Tumbles to 10-Year Low in December

Further illustrating the economic pain being felt by many companies involved in transportation and infrastructure, construction spending tumbled 2.5% in December to a $788 billion seasonally adjusted annual rate, the lowest level in a decade, the Associated General Contractors of America noted Tuesday in an analysis of new data from the U.S. Census Bureau. All three major components -- private residential, private nonresidential, and public construction -- shared in the decline.

"These dismal results -- coming just days after another government agency reported the overall economy grew for the sixth quarter in a row -- show that the agony of the recession continues for millions of construction workers and their firms," Ken Simonson, the association's chief economist, said in a statement. "Construction spending fell again in the last two months of 2010, and the preliminary total for the year was the lowest since 2000."

Highway and street construction slipped 1.6% in December.

AGC officials used Tuesday's gloomy numbers to urge leaders of the 112th Congress to act quickly to renew federal programs to invest in transportation and water infrastructure.

"Deferring needed improvements to our aging transportation network will undermine business activity today while saddling future taxpayers with ever-larger maintenance and repair costs," said Stephen Sandherr, the association's CEO.