Stimulus package report card shows 2,012 jobs created or saved in Rhode Island

Alex Kuffner

Oct. 31, 2009 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- PROVIDENCE -- President Obama's stimulus package has created or saved 2,012 positions in Rhode Island so far, according to the most detailed report yet on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Rhode Island ranked 47th in the nation on a list that includes the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, according to the report that was released by the White House late Friday. Only Maine, Hawaii, North Dakota, Delaware and Wyoming generated fewer jobs than the Ocean State.

The figure for Rhode Island was larger than revised data released by Governor Carcieri's office earlier Friday that put the number at 1,489. Amy Kempe, a spokeswoman for the governor, said the discrepancy was due to the federal government also accounting for money that flowed directly to cities and towns and to private entities, rather than only the state.

Either number, Kempe said, shows the Recovery Act has not had a deep effect on the Rhode Island economy. Her comments echoed criticism made earlier this year by Carcieri, a Republican, that the package would not produce immediate job growth.

On Friday, Kempe said of the stimulus funding, "It's hard to celebrate 2,000 jobs when we've seen our unemployment rate continue to rise."

From February -- when Obama signed the stimulus package into law -- to September, Rhode Island has lost 8,500 jobs as the state's unemployment rate has risen to 13 percent, its highest since at least 1976 and the third-highest in the nation.

Chip Unruh, spokesman for U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, a Democrat, said the Recovery Act has had a positive impact on Rhode Island. He pointed to a report generated from information on the Recovery Act and data from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics that showed the Ocean State ranked 30th in the nation in stimulus jobs created relative to the size of a state's labor force.

"There are reasons for optimism because the vast majority of funding has not been spent yet," said Unruh. "More help is on the way."

According to figures from the governor's office updated Oct. 16, the latest available, the state has spent $362 million in stimulus money so far. Kempe said Rhode Island has been allocated a total of about $1.1 billion.

Nearly all of the 1,489 jobs created or saved through the state's allocation of funds were in three areas: corrections, education and labor and training.

More than one-third of the jobs came from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, which distributed stimulus funds to public school districts throughout the state. The department reported that about 561 positions received funding. The vast majority were funded through the $72 million the state was awarded in State Fiscal Stabilization Funds.

Elliot Krieger, spokesman for the Education Department, said the stabilization funds were primarily used to retain school positions that would have been eliminated when districts tried to balance their budgets last summer.

The state Department of Labor and Training created the equivalent of 252 positions, a figure that included full-time positions, such as job advisers and trainers. But that number also included a host of summer youth jobs.

Kempe said those temporary jobs were emblematic of other positions funded by the stimulus package.

"There aren't a lot of sustainable jobs in those numbers," she said.

Newstex ID: KRTB-0161-39407355