How many jobs did Obama save?

Early figures spark renewed debate over how effective the stimulus has been

The White House released a report on Monday saying that President Obama's economic recovery plans may have created 250,000 education jobs. The administration is pushing back against critics who say the economic stimulus did no good, and saying it's on track to reach the goal of saving or creating 3.5 million jobs. How many jobs has the stimulus really saved?

Good news for the White House: A quarter-million education jobs —not bad, said Derek Thompson in The Atlantic. Those jobs wouldn't exist if the stimulus money hadn't "allowed states to restore much of their education budget shortfalls for 2009 and '10." Another report last week said the stimulus saved or created 30,000 jobs with private infrastructure builders.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up