640,329 DIRECT JOBS = OVER 1 MILLION JOBS SAVED OR CREATED
Reports from recipients posted today cover a little less than 50 percent of Recovery Act money put to work through September 30th. The fact that 640,329 jobs have been reported as directly created or saved by this portion of spending validates estimates by the government and private forecasters that the Recovery Act is responsible for more than 1,000,000 jobs overall so far.
640,329 DIRECT JOBS SO FAR = ON TRACK FOR 3.5 MILLION JOBS AS PROMISED
Today’s reports cover just 20 percent of the total $787 billion in spending and tax relief in the Recovery Act. The fact that 640,329 jobs have been reported as directly created or saved with about 20 percent of funds indicates we are on-track to meet our target of creating or saving at least 3.5 million jobs over the life of the Act.
MOST OF THE JOBS ARE TEACHERS, CONSTRUCTION WORKERS
Some critics have said that the Recovery Act jobs are “government bureaucrat” jobs. But today’s report puts the lie to that. Of the 640,329 jobs that were reported today, about 325,000 are education jobs and over 80,000 are in the construction sector.
THE JOBS ARE IN THE HARDEST-HIT COMMUNITIES
Today’s reports show that the jobs are in the communities that need them the most. The states with the highest unemployment rates in the country when the Recovery Act was passed today reported creating and saving 25 percent more jobs per capita than the nation as a whole.
DIRECT JOBS CREATED ARE JUST A PART OF WHAT THE ACT HAS DONE
Today’s report of approximately 640,329 direct jobs created does not capture:
* Jobs created by more than $80 billion in tax relief for businesses and working families
* Jobs created by $250 stimulus checks to more than 54 million Americans
* Indirect jobs: when workers hired on a Recovery Act project spend their paychecks or when prime contractors hire suppliers or other companies to get a job done
* Jobs created by billions of dollars of small business loans which are exempt from reporting
Even all this does not capture the benefit of the Recovery Act’s funding direct help to individuals: Pell Grants, funds to prevent Medicaid cuts, unemployment insurance, and more.
RECOVERY.GOV = SEE IT FOR YOURSELF
Don’t take our word for it: go to Recovery.gov where you can click on maps and see details on tens of thousands of Recovery Act projects – see for yourself what the Recovery Act is doing in your city, town, or neighborhood. Making this amount of information in this level of detail, this quickly (just one month after the end of the reporting period) has never been done before.
640,329 DIRECT JOBS = ONLY THE BEGINNING
The Administration has moved out nearly half of Recovery Act funds, but
· Over 75% percent of recipients, accounting for approximately $140 billion of awards that are creating approximately 70% of the jobs, report that their projects are less than 50 percent complete – indicating the job impact of these dollars will continue for some time;
· Key programs like smart grid, broadband, high speed rail are just getting underway.
