LANSING, Mich. - Nearly 75 percent of the 19,500 Michigan jobs "saved or created" by federal stimulus dollars to date were in education, according to the state's first accountability report, various media reported.
The state report says that about $3.7 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding has been received by 13 state agencies, and that $620 million of that funding has been spent to date. Those figures do not include money sent directly from the federal government to non-state agencies, such as local governments or universities, the state report said.
Spending figures also do not include money funneled directly to recipients, such as for food assistance.
Of the agencies required to report spending to date, the summary shows that the number of education jobs saved or created was about 14,500. The next highest number was "workforce" jobs, at 3,386, the state report said.
The report does not distinguish between jobs saved and jobs created by the stimulus package, AP reported.
SOURCES:
Detroit Free Press, "Michigan:
Stimulus saves or creates 19,500 jobs," Oct. 12, 2009
State of Michigan, "The Recovery Act in Michigan," October 2009
FURTHER READING:
Mackinac Center for Public Policy, "10,000 Teacher Layoffs? Let's Try Zero Instead." Oct. 5,
2009
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