Saved or Created Jobs? Not as many as claimed

[alienlovechild 75]

While Massachusetts recipients of federal stimulus money collectively report 12,374 jobs saved or created, a Globe review shows that number is wildly exaggerated. Organizations that received stimulus money miscounted jobs, filed erroneous figures, or claimed jobs for work that has not yet started.

One of the largest reported jobs figures comes from Bridgewater State College, which is listed as using $77,181 in stimulus money for 160 full-time work-study jobs for students. But Bridgewater State spokesman Bryan Baldwin said the college made a mistake and the actual number of new jobs was “almost nothing.’’ Bridgewater has submitted a correction, but it is not yet reflected in the report.

“There were no jobs created. It was just shuffling around of the funds,’’ said Susan Kelly, director of property management for Boston Land Co., which reported retaining 26 jobs with $2.7 million in rental subsidies for its affordable housing developments in Waltham. “It’s hard to figure out if you did the paperwork right. We never asked for this.’’

The federal stimulus report for Massachusetts has so many errors, missing data, or estimates instead of actual job counts that it may be impossible to accurately tally how many people have been employed by the massive infusion of federal money. Massachusetts is expected to receive an estimated $1 billion more in stimulus contracts, grants, and loans.

To be sure, the legislation has accomplished an important goal: funding public services facing the ax after the recession created gaping shortfalls in state and local government budgets. So Worcester and Lynn, for example, were able to keep police officers targeted for layoffs, schools across the state lost far fewer teachers, and community agencies preserved staff in the face of mounting demands for social services.Continued...

“We see $15 million construction projects with no jobs, and a $900 shoe sale that created nine jobs. Both are obviously wrong,’’ said Michael Balsam, chief solutions officer for Onvia, a Seattle data company tracking the stimulus spending. “There were a lot of recipients that did not report. Those that did report have some data challenges - wrong data or missing data.’’

Cheryl Arvidson, assistant director of communications for the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, the federal government’s oversight panel for the stimulus money, acknowledged the problems recipients are having reporting job counts.

“Some people are going to be confused. Some people are manually entering data. We figured there would be innocent mistakes,’’ Arvidson said. “We anticipate that as we go forward . . . the data quality will be increasingly improved. We knew there was going to be a shake-out.’’

Some of the errors are striking: The community action agency based in Greenfield reported 90 full-time jobs associated with the $245,000 it got for its preschool Head Start program. That averages out to just $2,700 per full-time job. The agency said it used the money to give roughly 150 staffers cost-of-living raises. The figure reported on the federal report was a mistake, a result of a staffer’s misunderstanding of the filing instructions, said executive director Jane Sanders.

Massachusetts property owners received $75.5 million in rental subsidies from the stimulus bill, for a reported total of 437 jobs. Recipients of 27 of the 87 contracts reported zero jobs. The others, meanwhile, simply reported the number of employees working at the property. If they received two contracts, for a larger property, they reported the employee figure twice.

For example, Plumley Village East in Worcester listed 23 jobs for each of its two contracts for a total of 46 jobs, even though it has only 23 employees working throughout the complex.

Those overstated jobs are going to disappear from future counts. The Obama administration has recently determined the rental subsidies don’t have to be reported under the stimulus bill.

One of those property owners, meanwhile, is frustrated by his experience with the legislation. Robert Ercolini manages a 201-unit affordable housing development in Plymouth. After being notified his annual rental subsidies were classified as stimulus spending, Ercolini renewed a request to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development for more than $1 million to fix up the property, reasoning he would be creating jobs by hiring contractors. He was refused.

“After HUD denied me money to make needed improvements and actually create jobs,’’ Ercolini said, “it’s really funny to find out in September that I’ve been receiving stimulus funds all along and they want to know how many jobs we’ve saved or created.’’

By his count, the answer is: “No jobs.’’

http://www.boston.com/business/articles/20...w_finds/?page=1

[~PalmTreeGurl~ 154]

Government is lying, not surprised. We all know they didnt save or create any jobs.

[Ban Hammer 14,640]

spotted on facebook.........

OBAMA = One Big A$$ Mistake America

[~PalmTreeGurl~ 154]

Im also pretty sure one VJer had it in their siggy last year ... I LOLed when I saw it

[Niels Bohr 72]

New jobs created for work-study jobs?

One thing about work-study jobs is that those positions are not created. Those students receive work-study funds work wherever they want really within the school where it's cheaper to employ students than a full-time worker. Those stimulus funds at Bridgewater State College didn't go to waste because it helps the students. Whoever wrote that probably forgot there are students or just jealous.

The commuter rail that is estimated at to cost 1 billion dollars to connect Southeastern Ma with Boston will use that stimulus money. One thing about construction jobs is that it's hard to estimate the amount of workers you need when the contractor wins the bid. You give an estimate to the municipality if you're going to do work using with government money. This happens with the big dig. It was initially set to include so many workers, but, later they discovered they need more so the big dig cost increases. In their initial project plan proposal, they give the quantity estimate of how many workers, etc...They need to do that to make sure the government gives sufficient money to the contractor to pay for their employees every week. If they don't do that, then payroll may be cut short and than HR will be a problem.

Edited November 11, 2009 by Niels Bohr

[Joseph & Ana 0]

New jobs created for work-study jobs?

One thing about work-study jobs is that those positions are not created. Those students receive work-study funds work wherever they want really within the school where it's cheaper to employ students than a full-time worker. Those stimulus funds at Bridgewater State College didn't go to waste because it helps the students. Whoever wrote that probably forgot there are students or just jealous.

The commuter rail that is estimated at to cost 1 billion dollars to connect Southeastern Ma with Boston will use that stimulus money. One thing about construction jobs is that it's hard to estimate the amount of workers you need when the contractor wins the bid. You give an estimate to the municipality if you're going to do work using with government money. This happens with the big dig. It was initially set to include so many workers, but, later they discovered they need more so the big dig cost increases. In their initial project plan proposal, they give the quantity estimate of how many workers, etc...They need to do that to make sure the government gives sufficient money to the contractor to pay for their employees every week. If they don't do that, then payroll may be cut short and than HR will be a problem.

So you agree that Obama is a liar.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Government is lying, not surprised. We all know they didnt save or create any jobs.

Odd that the GOP run government in FL is in on this big lie that supports the Obama administration...

Stimulus contributed to nearly 50,000 jobs in Florida, officials say

[Dan J 277]

Its never been a perfect science as to estimating how many jobs are created/saved. There are many factors that go into an employment decision and the stimulus is just one of them.

Of course, this is a damned if you do and damned if you don't situation. If the Obama administration didn't put out a number, conservatives would complain about accountability (of which they didn't do so well themselves in Iraq) and if Obama puts out a number, they will complain about the impossible task of not meeting it.

Of course, the Republicans don't really have a plan of their own. Just not what Obama and the Democrats want.

[~PalmTreeGurl~ 154]

Its never been a perfect science as to estimating how many jobs are created/saved. There are many factors that go into an employment decision and the stimulus is just one of them.

Of course, this is a damned if you do and damned if you don't situation. If the Obama administration didn't put out a number, conservatives would complain about accountability (of which they didn't do so well themselves in Iraq) and if Obama puts out a number, they will complain about the impossible task of not meeting it.

Of course, the Republicans don't really have a plan of their own. Just not what Obama and the Democrats want.

Im quite sure with all the Republicans out there, that there were things brought up to do differently. Its just Obama and the Democrats werent listening as usual.

Edited November 11, 2009 by ~PalmTreeGurl~

[The_Dude 1,142]

Its never been a perfect science as to estimating how many jobs are created/saved. There are many factors that go into an employment decision and the stimulus is just one of them.

Of course, this is a damned if you do and damned if you don't situation. If the Obama administration didn't put out a number, conservatives would complain about accountability (of which they didn't do so well themselves in Iraq) and if Obama puts out a number, they will complain about the impossible task of not meeting it.

Of course, the Republicans don't really have a plan of their own. Just not what Obama and the Democrats want.

Im quite sure with all the Republicans out there, that there were things brought up to do differently. Its just Obama and the Democrats werent listening as usual.

All the republican party has done since Obama has taken office is to obfuscate and protest without any clear, discernable plan of action of their own.

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

Government is lying, not surprised. We all know they didnt save or create any jobs.

saved or created = smoke AND mirrors

[Mark&Steph 0]

Im quite sure with all the Republicans out there, that there were things brought up to do differently. Its just Obama and the Democrats werent listening as usual.

Don't kid yourself. Neither party wants to actually do anything to earn those huge salaries they get. That would be too much like real work.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Im quite sure with all the Republicans out there, that there were things brought up to do differently.

Like what, exactly?

[scandal 951]

This job counting exercise is nowhere nearly as easy as it might seem.

Here is a report from the Chicago Tribune, Nov 4 on the subject.

On the one hand, clearly bogus claims of teaching jobs "saved" by the stimulus.... in school district that have fewer employees than the number of "saved" jobs! Those are all from relatively small suburban school districts.

However, on the other hand, the city of Chicago which has a school system dwarfing those of neighboring communities, reported zero jobs despite receiving a much larger stimulus injection.

So ... the stats are all over the place. It's really hard to know what accurate numbers are likely to be.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/educati...0,4659134.story

More than $4.7 million in federal stimulus aid so far has been funneled to schools in North Chicago, and state and federal officials say that money has saved the jobs of 473 teachers.

Problem is, the district employs only 290 teachers.

"That other number, I don't know where that came from," said Lauri Hakanen, superintendent of North Chicago Community Unit Schools District 187.

The Obama administration last week released the first round of data designed to underpin the worthiness of its economic stimulus plan, which so far has directed $1.25 billion to Illinois schools. That money has helped save or create 14,330 school jobs in the state, the administration claimed.

But those statistics, compiled initially by the Illinois State Board of Education, appear riddled with anomalies that raise questions about their validity, according to a Tribune analysis of district-by-district stimulus spending and other state data. Many local school officials were perplexed by the stimulus data attributed to their districts.

In the official report, Wilmette Public Schools District 39 was credited with 166 jobs saved by stimulus aid. Superintendent Raymond Lechner said the number should be zero.

At Dolton-Riverdale School District 148, stimulus funds were said to have saved the equivalent of 382 full-time teaching jobs -- 142 more than the district actually has.

A similar discrepancy was found in data for Kankakee School District 111, where the stimulus report logged the equivalent of 665 full-time jobs saved. "That's impossible," a top Kankakee school official said, adding that the entire payroll -- full and part time -- is 600 workers.

But if that suggests the numbers for Illinois may be artificially inflated, then consider the following, which could suggest an undercount:

The totals do not reflect any school jobs saved or created in Chicago, the state's biggest district and the recipient of at least $293 million in stimulus funds. Chicago schools budget chief Christina Herzog said the district easily saved at least 1,200 jobs because of the stimulus, but didn't report them as such because of directives from the state board. State officials dispute that.

...

[Ban Hammer 14,640]

democrat math