Last week the Administration announced their revised figure for jobs “created” and “saved” as a result of the $787 billion federal stimulus package approved earlier this year.
As reflected in the New York Times article linked below, over half of the 640,000 saved or created jobs cited by the government have been in the education sector. Only 80,000 jobs are tied to construction – which was originally the centerpiece of the stimulus package – but that portion of the spending was ultimately whittled down to only about 15% of the total package – so the job output is in that same range.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/31/us/31stimulus.html
The ongoing controversy is how the government is defining and measuring “saved” and “created” jobs. From the point in time that the Administration promised that the stimulus plan would save or create 3 million jobs, taxpayers and economists have asked for details as to how this will be measured. For now it is a moving target with vague explanations.
California, New York and Washington had the highest number of jobs created or saved. For additional details regarding the state-by-state and sector-by-sector job results thus far, check out the government website below:
http://www.recovery.gov/Pages/home.aspx
On Monday November 2nd, President Obama attempted to temper the expectations regarding job growth by stating that job losses will continue for the next weeks and months and pressed the public and private sectors to become more creative to increase hiring.
Stay tuned……
