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WASHINGTON BUREAU -
The White House said Friday that the $787 billion stimulus package had created or saved about one million jobs so far, a number that is hard to verify because of the guesswork in determining whether businesses had retained workers due to the stimulus who would otherwise have been laid off.
After compiling reports from more than 100,000 states, businesses and nonprofit groups that received stimulus money, the Obama administration said the program is on pace to save or create 3.5 million jobs by next year.
"So, there's a lot more job creation to come from this act before it leaves the scene,'' Jared Bernstein, an economics advisor to Vice President Joe Biden, told reporters Friday.
The White House released its findings with a bipartisan flourish, inviting Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California and Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley of Maryland to a news conference touting the results. Accompanying the White House announcement was a video showcasing ordinary workers who said they owed their jobs and car purchases to the stimulus.
The job figures released by the White House Friday were based on detailed reports filed by certain recipients of about $160 billion in stimulus money. The reports show the employers created or saved more than 640,000 jobs, the White House said. About 325,000 of those jobs were in education; 80,000 were in construction.
The White House said the job impact rises to 1 million when indirect benefits of the federal spending are included, as when a worker hired with stimulus dollars spends money at a restaurant.
With unemployment approaching 10%, the White House data provoked some skepticism. The Obama administration is partly basing its estimates on a concept that is difficult to measure: jobs saved. State governments and other agencies may be using subjective criteria in deciding whether stimulus money legitimately saved a job that was about to be eliminated.
Peter Morici, an economist and professor at the University of Maryland, said that claims of jobs saved are "not verifiable. It's only verifiable in the loosest sense.''
Morici added: "The impact of the stimulus is less than president is claiming and more than the Republicans will admit. It certainly has had an effect. But one million jobs is a fantasy.''
Republican lawmakers were dismissive of the White House report.
Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, the Republican whip, said: "Americans, particularly those with friends and family out of work, know that the administration's claims of stimulus success and jobs 'saved' or created are not serious.''
But Obama officials said they were confident that their numbers are accurate.
Edward DeSeve, an Obama advisor helping to oversee the stimulus, said that recipients of the funds have no incentive to inflate job estimates.
"What we have to do is rely on the fact that our public officials are honest,'' DeSeve said. He added that "there's no advantage to a state from overstating or understating.''
peter.nicholas@latimes.com
After compiling reports from more than 100,000 states, businesses and nonprofit groups that received stimulus money, the Obama administration said the program is on pace to save or create 3.5 million jobs by next year.
"So, there's a lot more job creation to come from this act before it leaves the scene,'' Jared Bernstein, an economics advisor to Vice President Joe Biden, told reporters Friday.
The White House released its findings with a bipartisan flourish, inviting Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California and Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley of Maryland to a news conference touting the results. Accompanying the White House announcement was a video showcasing ordinary workers who said they owed their jobs and car purchases to the stimulus.
The job figures released by the White House Friday were based on detailed reports filed by certain recipients of about $160 billion in stimulus money. The reports show the employers created or saved more than 640,000 jobs, the White House said. About 325,000 of those jobs were in education; 80,000 were in construction.
The White House said the job impact rises to 1 million when indirect benefits of the federal spending are included, as when a worker hired with stimulus dollars spends money at a restaurant.
With unemployment approaching 10%, the White House data provoked some skepticism. The Obama administration is partly basing its estimates on a concept that is difficult to measure: jobs saved. State governments and other agencies may be using subjective criteria in deciding whether stimulus money legitimately saved a job that was about to be eliminated.
Peter Morici, an economist and professor at the University of Maryland, said that claims of jobs saved are "not verifiable. It's only verifiable in the loosest sense.''
Morici added: "The impact of the stimulus is less than president is claiming and more than the Republicans will admit. It certainly has had an effect. But one million jobs is a fantasy.''
Republican lawmakers were dismissive of the White House report.
Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, the Republican whip, said: "Americans, particularly those with friends and family out of work, know that the administration's claims of stimulus success and jobs 'saved' or created are not serious.''
But Obama officials said they were confident that their numbers are accurate.
Edward DeSeve, an Obama advisor helping to oversee the stimulus, said that recipients of the funds have no incentive to inflate job estimates.
"What we have to do is rely on the fact that our public officials are honest,'' DeSeve said. He added that "there's no advantage to a state from overstating or understating.''
peter.nicholas@latimes.com
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Remember these lies when it is time to go to the polls. Vote them all out. Both parties. The only power you have is your vote. Stop giving it to them. If you continue, then you deserve to be a victim of the lies.
AM556 (10/31/2009, 9:15 AM )