White House says 650,000 jobs saved or created by recovery efforts
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Efforts to stimulate the economy have created or saved 650,000 jobs so far, the Obama administration announced this morning, adding that it expected to meet its goal of creating 3.5 million jobs by next year.The numbers sound good, but this is a case of the political back-story being more interesting than the figures.
Arguably, it was the collapse of the economy last year that pushed Barack Obama ahead of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who was ahead in their presidential race going into September. Recent polls show that Obama’s popularity is running ahead of how people feel he is handling economic recovery issues.
Republicans have criticized recovery efforts and lost no time today questioning the value and numbers of the jobs created, a refrain that will likely continue through the 2010 elections. In an e-mailed news release, Senate Republicans cited more than 10 reports of errors associated with the job creation data. Earlier this week, the Associated Press also raised questions, prompting a sharp response from the administration that the problems were fixed.
Today’s numbers are culled from businesses and reports from local governments. The stimulus efforts include the $787-billion omnibus plan, $288 billion in tax credits such as the popular ‘cash for clunkers’ and expiring first-time home buyer tax credit, expected to be extended shortly by Congress.
The government’s efforts are credited with turning around the GDP numbers indicating the economy is growing. But the national jobs numbers are expected to show that unemployment will top 10%, so today’s announcement will take some of the sting out of what will be bad news.
Vice President Joe Biden, who has been charged with dealing with the recovery issue, will formally announce the number of jobs later today.
--Michael Muskal
