Jobs Created or Saved?

The stimulus is working! Yeah, right. I can't believe this article came from the Associated Press, I guess the 'magic' is wearing off. Let's take a look at one way the administration is coming up with their "jobs created or saved" numbers. I wish I could say this is unbelievable, but sadly it is not.

It seems that pay raises are being counted as saved jobs. First of all, what are they doing giving out pay raises during bad economic times? Only the government would do that...I didn't even receive a cost of living adjustment last year, much less a raise. And I'm pretty sure it will be more of the same this year. At least I still have a job, I wonder if Obama is taking credit for saving that one too.

Back to the fuzzy math, they claim the stimulus "saved 935 jobs at the Southwest Georgia Community Action Council...(t)rouble is, only 508 people work there." So how does that work? "director Myrtis Mulkey-Ndawula said she followed the guidelines the Obama administration provided. She said she multiplied the 508 employees by 1.84 — the percentage pay raise they received — and came up with 935 jobs saved." Again, besides the obvious nonsense of the equation, that means they increased their payroll by 84%! When is the last time you got an 84% raise? And what is it exactly that this "Community Action Council" does? Perhaps it's ACORN's replacement?

No, this isn't an isolated incident, the same reporting is coming out of other government organizations:

Administration for Children and Families at Health and Human Services - of the 14,506 jobs claimed to be saved, more than 9,300 were existing employees who received pay raises

Bergen County Community Action Program - noted the nearly $213,000 it received went to cover raises for existing staff only

And of course, the Chicago area school system had to get in on the payoffs...

Wilmette Public Schools District 39 - credited with 166 jobs saved by stimulus . Superintendent Raymond Lechner said the number should be zero.

Dolton-Riverdale School District 148 - saved the equivalent of 382 full-time teaching jobs -- 142 more than the district actually has.

Kankakee School District 111 - logged the equivalent of 665 full-time jobs saved. The entire payroll -- full and part time -- is 600 workers.

How's that for an open and honest administration? Don't worry, the mouthpieces can explain everything...

"It's a glitch in the system," said Ben Allen, the research director at the National Head Start Association. Thanks, Ben. I noticed that. Allen said a cost-of-living adjustment "may not be viewed traditionally as a job saved, but one could interpret it that, by providing COLA, you're retaining staff." Oh, now I see.

"If I give you a raise, it is going to save a portion of your job," HHS spokesman Luis Rosero said. A portion of my job? You really do think we're that stupid, don't you?

Ed DeSeve, who oversees the stimulus at the White House, said the Head Start numbers "represent a few percent of all jobs reported" and said the problems would probably be balanced out by other errors that underreported jobs. "So we don't expect any corrections to this data to meaningfully impact the total 640,000 direct jobs." Yeah, I'm sure it will all work out in the end. Move along, there's nothing to see here.

I always wondered just how they would calculate "jobs saved", now we know. This is only one example that's come to light, I'm sure there will be many more to follow.

Links:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jMNoef6xDenBbHWO0Im6rIjDmAgAD9BOJH300

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/education/chi-education-stimulus-04-nov04,0,2066518,full.story