Critical 5 Shared Narrative: Role of Critical Infrastructure in National Prosperity /

Role of Critical Infrastructure in National Prosperity Shared Narrative October 2015 Introduction The following narrative represents the shared views of the Critical 5 member nations (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States) to provide a strategic overview of the relationship between critical infrastructure and national prosperity. [...] Analysis of data from the U. S. Bureau of Economic Analysis 2012 annual data as well as from the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) suggests that “68 percent of the jobs created by investing in infrastructure are in the construction sector, 10 percent in the manufacturing sector, and 6 percent in retail trade.”2 In Canada, as part of the Moving Ontario Forward Plan launched in 2014, the Govern [...] Extensive and efficient infrastructure is critical for ensuring the effective functioning of the economy, as it is an important factor in determining the location of economic activity and the kinds of activities or sectors that can develop within a country. [...] However, when there are disruptions to the services critical infrastructure provides, such as energy, transportation, and communications networks, there can potentially be costly direct economic impacts, such as the cost of repairing damage to physical structures, and indirect economic impacts to society, such as the business disruption to the global supply chain and an increase in short term and [...] The core recovery capability for economic recovery is the ability to return economic and business activities to a state of health and develop new economic opportunities that result in a sustainable and economically viable community.