Coming off a rough few weeks after problems with the reporting of jobs created by the stimulus program, the White House has a bit of good news from the Congressional Budget Office.
In a new report, the CBO estimates the $787 billion economic stimulus has created 600,000 jobs this year.
The key point from the CBO that Democrats are focusing on today:
CBO estimates that in the third quarter of calendar year 2009, an additional 600,000 to 1.6 million people were employed in the United States, and real (inflation-adjusted) gross domestic product (GDP) was 1.2 percent to 3.2 percent higher, than would have been the case in the absence of ARRA.
Vice President Joe Biden said the report bolsters the administration’s points, even though last month he said at an event with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger the stimulus had created more than 642,000 jobs.
The White House releases Biden’s statement:
“This new report from the Congressional Budget Office is further evidence of what private forecasters and government economists have been saying: the Recovery Act is already responsible for more than 1 million jobs nationwide.
From independent economists to Congress’s own nonpartisan research body, the experts have spoken and the debate is no longer whether the Recovery Act is creating and saving jobs, but how we provide even more opportunities to drive growth and support American workers.
This early progress less than halfway through the program is encouraging, but we’re just getting started.
In the coming months, we’ll break ground on thousands of infrastructure projects, launch multi-billion dollar broadband and high speed rail initiatives and make critical investments in our nation’s schools and businesses through the Recovery Act that will help put America back to work and lay a foundation for long-term economic growth.”
