Stimulus funded 9,096 Iowa jobs according to federal report

Federal stimulus funds paid for 9,096 jobs across Iowa in the fourth quarter of last year, according to a report from the Obama administration.

This is the second time since the stimulus was passed a year ago that the administration has posted jobs figures linked to the $787 billion package. There has been considerable debate about the effectiveness of the stimulus, given stubbornly high unemployment rates.

“The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is doing exactly what it is supposed to do - make investments in our economy while supporting job activity in our state,” said Troy Price, a spokesman for Gov. Chet Culver.

U.S. Rep Tom Latham, R-Iowa, said it is impossible to know what impact it is having, however, given changes in some of the reporting rules.

“Somehow (the idea) the stimulus has been working is just a fallacy,” Latham said.

Most of the jobs paid for with stimulus funds were at schools across the state.

A new state report said 5,379 education positions were funded with stimulus funds. Another 830 positions were paid for in the construction sector, it said.

Overall, the state reports, 8,309 jobs were funded with stimulus funds that flowed through its coffers.

Nationally, the Obama administration said 600,000 jobs were paid for with stimulus dollars in the fourth quarter.

The figure does not include the effect of stimulus-related tax cuts, increased Medicaid payments and added unemployment benefits. Those areas excluded, the state of Iowa said $488.5 million in stimulus money was spent in the state last year.

Measuring the precise jobs impact has been tricky. After the first figures came out in the fall, there were widespread reports of errors and inconsistencies. The administration blamed that on hundreds of thousands of recipients sending in reports, many of them flawed.

In December, the administration changed the rules for jobs reporting. Instead of asking recipients to declare the number of jobs “saved or created,” it asked that they list the number of positions funded by stimulus dollars.

That's made it hard to say what job creation has been.

It's also difficult to compare the last quarter's performance with what happened in the previous seven months, when the federal government said 5,300 jobs had been “created or saved” in Iowa.

Nearly 111,000 Iowans were out of work in December - despite stimulus spending - up from 74,000 a year earlier. The unemployment rate is two points higher than a year ago.

Backers of the stimulus package said the situation would have been worse had it not been for the additional federal spending.

By Ed Tibbetts, Quad-City Times