Economy Alarm: Obama Administration Cuts 60,000 Faulty Jobs From Stimulus Report
Obama Administration Cuts 60,000 Faulty Jobs From Stimulus Report
After Catching Flack for Inflated Reporting, Administration Omits Information Containing “Unrealistic Job Data”
Democrats Claim the Stimulus Has Created or Saved Over a Million Jobs
“Vice President Joe Biden on Friday: The stimulus ‘is responsible for over 1 million jobs so far.’
“White House senior advisor Valerie Jarrett on Oct. 18: The stimulus ‘really staved off a disaster and we saved millions of jobs around the country.’
“White House release June 2: ‘Just over 100 days in, over 150,000 jobs have been created or saved.’
“White House senior advisor David Axelrod on June 7: ‘The stimulus itself has produced hundreds of thousands of jobs.'” (“Inconsistent messages on Obama’s stimulus package,” The Los Angeles Times, 10/31/2009)
Credibility Crash: Obama Administration Cuts 60,000 Jobs From Stimulus Report Due to Inaccurate Information
The Obama administration, under fire for inflating job growth from the $787 billion stimulus plan, slashed over 60,000 jobs from its most recent report on the program because the reporting outlets had submitted “unrealistic data,” according to a document obtained by ABC News.
The Office of Management and Budget document shows that before an Oct. 30 progress report on the program the administration asked the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board to remove information from 12 stimulus recipients that contained “unrealistic data,” including “unrealistic job data.”
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“For instance,” Nabors noted, “there is little chance that a $42,000 grant actually created 5,000 jobs, and we did not want that count to be part of the final jobs report. We are continuing to examine data for inconsistencies or errors, whether small or large. Given the unprecedented nature of this reporting effort, these are cautious, responsible steps to ensure that the information provided to the American people is accurate and reliable.”
Some of the other recipients whose data was omitted included Belmont Metropolitan Housing Authority in Ohio that reported 16,120 jobs saved or created after receiving $1.3 million in stimulus funds from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Shelton State Community College in Alabama reported 14,500 jobs saved or created after receiving $27,000 from the General Accounting Office. And Alkan Builders of Alaska reported 3,000 jobs saved or created after receiving $11 million from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Lawmaker Calls for OMB Testimony on Stimulus Jobs
All told, the omitted data from the 12 outlets reflected 60,803 jobs saved or created from over $20 million in stimulus funds. If the administration had included the data in its report last month, the total job growth from the stimulus would have exceeded 700,000, rather than the 640,000 ultimately reported.
However, OMB’s role in filtering the jobs numbers led a senior Republican lawmaker to call for the agency to come to Capitol Hill to testify on its involvement.
On Thursday the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will hold a hearing on how stimulus recipients account for their use of funds. The hearing will feature Earl Devaney, chair of the Recovery Act board, officials from the Department of Education and the Department of Transportation, and a representative from the Government Accountability Office, but no witnesses from OMB
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Last month the administration claimed that 640,329 jobs had been saved or created because of the $159 billion in stimulus money allocated as of the end of September.
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Since the latest stimulus report, there have been numerous media reports that the jobs numbers were inflated.
The Associated Press said the report “significantly overstates the number of jobs spared with money from programs serving families and children, mostly the Head Start preschool program.”
The Denver Post also cited overstated federal figures with the Colorado Head Start program, noting that the government reported 269 jobs saved or created by the program, but only three were actually saved or created.
The Chicago Tribune noted that the administration said $4.7 million in stimulus money for schools in north Chicago had saved the jobs of 473 teachers, but the school district only employed 290 teachers. The statistics – claiming that stimulus money had helped save or create 14,330 school jobs in Illinois – were “riddled with anomalies that raise questions about their validity.”
The Boston Globe also reported that Massachusetts recipients of stimulus funds claimed that 12,000 jobs had been saved or created, “that number has been inflated by miscounts, erroneous figures, or claiming jobs for work not yet started.” (Matthew Jaffe, “ABC News Exclusive: Obama Admin Slashed 60,000 Jobs From Recent Stimulus Report,” ABC News, 11/16/2009)
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