Biden's economic plan bets on blue collars, from infrastructure to child care

The bipartisan infrastructure bill that President Joe Biden signed into law Monday marks a milestone in his effort to reorient Democratic economic policy away from the strategy of his party's past two presidents.

The sweeping infrastructure plan -- which funds some $550 billion in new spending on roads, bridges, ports, water systems, mass transit and electric vehicle charging stations -- encapsulates Biden's focus on creating and enhancing jobs that do not require a college education. That same emphasis is evident in the broader Build Back Better plan still awaiting congressional approval, which would channel huge sums into the "caregiving economy" of child care, early childhood education and elder care, which are now predominantly low-wage industries staffed heavily by women of color.

Economists have estimated that at least four-fifths of the jobs created by the infrastructure bill and the broader economic plan would not require college degrees, a dynamic that Biden unfailingly highlights when he discusses them.