Business News - Stimulus job gains in question

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Stimulus job gains in question

WASHINGTON (UPI) -- The 640,329 jobs created or saved by the $787 billion stimulus bill include inflated figures based on "confusing" reports, a review of the data found.

USA Today reported Tuesday that the manager of a public housing project in Blooming Grove, Texas, reported a gain of 450 jobs based on $26,174 in stimulus funds for maintenance projects.

An inquiry found he had hired six workers, including five roofers and one inspector. "The money was great, but the reports are really confusing," Bob Bray, the manager, said.

Bray said on the advise of a federal official he reported the number of hours worked, instead of jobs gained. The Department of Housing and Urban Development discovered the error, but not before job figures were made public.

White House spokeswoman Liz Oxhorn said, the numbers give the public "one of the best looks ever at real-time information about a major initiative." The reporting system, "allows people to find any mistakes, as it should -- which will help us correct them promptly," she said.

Some numbers are hard to reconcile. The Plymouth, Conn., Police Department reported a gain of 108 jobs with a grant of $15,355. The Southwest Georgia Community Action Council reported a 935 job gain based $1.3 million in stimulus funding, the newspaper said.

Copyright 2009 by United Press International

This news arrived on: 11/03/2009

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