TOPICS
TOPICS
Tracking jobs created under Recovery Act could be tricky
How many workers does it take to steady a floundering economy? If those workers are getting paid through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the Obama administration is betting about 6.8 million. That's the administration's estimate for the number of jobs created or saved over the next four years as a result of the $787 billion economic stimulus plan signed into law in February.
But documenting that number may require some fancy accounting. Ed DeSeve, special adviser to the president and the Office of Management and Budget for implementing the Recovery Act, said on Thursday that it will be up to fund recipients to estimate the number of jobs created or saved.
"We believe [the number of] direct jobs created should be defined by the recipients themselves," said DeSeve, speaking at a breakfast sponsored by the Association of Government Accountants in Washington. He noted that not all states define full-time jobs the same way, making it difficult to impose a universal methodology for counting jobs.
In addition, recipients of stimulus funds, which include state and local governments as well as contractors, may choose to rely on subrecipients or subcontractors to provide such data, DeSeve said. "We're doing our best to not require recipients to be in the verification business," he said, adding, "There is no incentive for fraud here."
That view troubles William Beach, director of the Center for Data Analysis at the Heritage Foundation, a Washington think tank. The center conducts statistical research on a range of economic issues.
State highway departments are "notoriously creative," in how they document spending and employment, he said. Beach was a Missouri state budget officer in the 1980s when President Ronald Reagan signed the 1983 Employment Act, a major effort to stimulate the economy through construction jobs.
"Determining who was working on these projects was very difficult," Beach said. "To say there is no incentive for corruption or bad dealing is enormously naïve, or worse."
It's important to know how many new jobs are actually created through Recovery Act projects versus the number of positions transferred from a different part of a department's payroll, Beach said. With state agencies and localities under enormous economic pressure to receive stimulus funds, they will naturally seek to portray their spending programs as desirable as possible. One way to do that is to show that they're employing a lot of people.
Relmond Van Daniker, AGA's executive director, said the reliability of employment data raises major concerns for federal chief financial officers, who must report spending and jobs data to OMB and Congress, a view confirmed in recent interviews with a number of federal CFOs.
It is essential that federal agencies and states be able to provide citizens with understandable, accurate reports about how Recovery Act funds are being spent, Van Daniker said.
OMB is expected to issue final guidance for reporting on Recovery Act spending next week.
COMMENTS
- I know several people, including family members, that have lost their jobs, but I don't know anyone who has found a job. If the plan is working, why are so many states in dire straits, Why are so many state's unemployment compensations funds exhausted. So, if jobs are being created, where are they ? I would like to pass that information on to family and friends who need one of them. Tony Gardner Posted September 3, 2009 12:18 PM
- I will give some credit for trying to do something however most of the jobs will be created rebuilding our infrastructure these are construction type labor positions that will be great the rest in energy ect.. not so many. But when every road and bridge is re-built or replaced then what you will have, the majority of people still out of work. Might I suggest putting our industrial base back together it has served our forefather well for 100 years what makes these guys Republicans and Democrats alike think that all the people in this country are going to be college degree carrying folks that will be the small percentage of our youth what about the rest of the kids where will they work what will they do to feed there families? Live with mom and dad go on some social program I mean come on, the entire country sees whats happening but will do nothing to stop it. Well at least the later generations (baby boomers) they have thier retirement fixed so I guess why should they care. But its the ones born today these are the generations our country and the polititians will need to apease and watch out for (Really ticked off loss cannons). If they dont give these kids hope they may go back to good old fashioned linchings. And I will have to say what I have seen in 50 years and how things have changed is sad not sure if its greed or truly trying to help another country or what, but the political system is broken bad and if things dont change over the next 20 years all the people in this country will be on some sort of government program just to survive. Heck we have to many now on these programs. Sadly the days of the self made American millionaire are coming to and end. That is unless you have a polititian for a freind!!! Get Real Posted July 22, 2009 3:17 PM
- I'm interested in this story from a technical point of view. I don't want to take a position on whether or not it is possible to get accurate data on this particular program as some the comments have as I don't know any of the details about data collection in this particular case. However, starting from the point of view that some have suggested that there may be potential problems with data collection, I am interested in what I see as an underlying assumption that we should always collect, or be able to collect, results data on programs such as this. In fact in the real world it is often the case that we cannot get accurate data about the results of our programs. While this may sound somewhat controversial, it does not follow from this that we should not do such programs just because we cannot get accurate data on the final results they produce. I've detailed my argument in a blog posting at outcomesblog.org/index.php/tracking-jobs-created-under-the-us-recovery-act-when-should-the-attempt-at-measurement-be-abandoned/ Paul Duignan Posted June 16, 2009 1:31 PM
PROMO RIGHT: GBC
Advancing the business of government through analysis, insight and the sharing of best practices.
SPONSORED RESEARCH
Achieving a Greener Federal Government IBM
Federal Cybersecurity: Securing the Nation's Information IBM
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act: New Requirements for Tracking and Reporting Federal Workforce Data Kronos
Managing the Stimulus: A Candid Survey of Federal Program Managers Accenture and Microsoft
Improving Collaboration and Productivity in 21st Century Government: The Role of Communication for Government Executives Cisco
