So far, 30,383 jobs have been created by companies that have gotten $2.2
billion worth of stimulus contracts directly from the federal government.
That equates to $71,500 per job based on just the funds that have been
distributed.
These firms have been awarded a total of $16 billion.
Stimulus-fueled job creation has become a very controversial issue. The
White House has faced blistering attacks by Republicans, who contend that
the recovery act has failed to live up to its promise to put Americans back
to work.
The Obama administration downplayed the reports released Thursday, saying
they represent just a small sliver of the stimulus that's been spent, since
the massive recovery act was enacted in February. The first reports
detailing the number of stimulus jobs created or saved were submitted last
weekend by recipients of stimulus-funded contracts, grants and loans.
"It is too soon to draw any global conclusions from this partial and
preliminary data, as it reports on just $16 billion of the $339 billion in
Recovery Act efforts before September 30th, but the early indications are
quite positive," said Jared Bernstein, chief economist for Vice President
Joe Biden. "The direct count by Recovery Act recipients of jobs created or
saved from this small percentage of the Recovery Act exceeds our
projections."
The majority of stimulus funds spent so far have gone to state and local
governments. Their reports will be released on Oct. 30, though some
governors have already revealed preliminary data. In California, for
instance, stimulus funds received by state agencies have created or saved
more than 100,000 jobs.
The-CNN-Wire/Atlanta
TM & � 2009 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights
reserved.
> NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The White House unveiled Thursday the first
> hard data on how many jobs the $787 billion recovery act has created.
>
> So far, 30,383 jobs have been created by companies that have gotten
> $2.2 billion worth of stimulus contracts directly from the federal
> government. That equates to $71,500 per job based on just the funds
> that have been distributed.
>
That's a shit load better than the trillions Bush threw down the toilet for
nothing at all.