Meet the stimulus hires
With President Obama's vow to create or save 3.5 million jobs, critical fields like infrastructure and IT are starting to benefit. So just who are these workers tasked with rebuilding America? We tracked down a few recent hires to find out.
Bobby Jones, 55
Boilermaker,
U.S. Department of Energy's Savannah River Site
I was working construction on the site, and it looked like someone would be getting laid off. But with stimulus money going to the Department of Energy, they were able to swap us over to the disassembly part of the site. It's really interesting work. I'm used to building stuff, not tearing things apart. But we're not bulls in a china shop. We're dealing with hazardous materials here -- it's skill and precision work.
I'm also getting to stay in one place. Since my kids started school my wife has always stayed home, and I've found a job, finished a job, and come back home. I've been to the Tennessee Valley Authority, to North Carolina a couple of times, all over South Carolina. The stimulus is helping -- people are feeling better about getting to stay longer on the job. They actually have something to look forward to. I hope once the stimulus is over that feeling will continue.
NEXT: Patricia Dunn, 43
