Editorial Counterpoint: Where are the jobs promised by stimulus?

Whether you were for or against the $787 billion stimulus spending package, you're paying for it now. So what have we gotten for our billions of dollars spent thus far? Unfortunately, not nearly as much of a return on investment as a recent Star Tribune editorial ("Stimulus helped state," Aug. 28) implied in applauding the "cushioning impact" of the stimulus on our state economy.

Remember, there were three overriding reasons promulgated for passing the record stimulus bill: jobs, jobs, jobs. "First and foremost, this is a jobs bill," Eighth District U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar, a key architect of the measure, said earlier this year. "It will put Americans to work at jobs that pay a living wage. By this June, we could see as many as one million new jobs nationwide."

Yet, at a July 31 hearing of the Congressional Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, there was no way for Chairman Oberstar to pave over the reality that just 48,000 transportation and infrastructure jobs had accrued nationwide with about a third of infrastructure spending in the pipeline.

Although Oberstar promised that road and bridge investments alone would generate more than 15,000 jobs in his home state within a year, the road to recovery has been extremely bumpy in Minnesota. Just 2,900 transportation construction jobs have been fueled here by stimulus spending to date, according to state budget officials who appeared recently before a state legislative commission. Results like that could give a new slant to the term "road kill."

Congress and the president increased our budget deficit by hundreds of billions of dollars when they quickly passed this bill. U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, in her efforts to sell dubious Minnesotans on the merits of this supersized spending bill, promoted a study claiming that 91,000 jobs could be tied to federal stimulus outlays.

The White House put the bar at 66,000 jobs for Minnesota, ranging from a high of 9,500 in the Sixth District to a low of 7,500 in the Seventh District. The reality, however, appears to be quite different: Full-time stimulus-generated jobs announced so far don't add up to 7,500 in the entire state, much less in its individual congressional districts. Besides the 2,900 aforementioned transportation jobs, state budget officials told legislators that they have tracked about 6,000 summer youth jobs and 82 state Workforce Center jobs tied to $850 million of stimulus spending.

Yes, most of the $4.7 billion coming down the pike to Minnesota remains to be spent, and job totals will climb as more stimulus money gets out. Yet more than six months into the recovery plan, it's clear we're not getting much bang for our buck.

Moreover, both the White House and members of Minnesota's congressional delegation have stipulated that the private sector would lead the way in creating jobs. "What's exciting is that southern Minnesotans can benefit greatly from this strategy," First District U.S. Rep Tim Walz said in a news release to constituents. "Experts say more than 90 percent of the jobs created will be in the private sector."

Yet in the past year, only two sectors of the state economy have experienced any job growth, and one of them is government. According to the July jobs report from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, in the past 12 months, only the education-health services sector (13,600) has added more jobs than government (6,000), which tallied 2,800 jobs in July alone.

Frankly, it's difficult to say how many Minnesotans have been put to work as a result of stimulus spending, given the lack of data provided by all levels of government. Minnesota's stimulus transparency website (www.mmb.state.mn.us/recovery) fails to even post projected or actual job data resulting from stimulus outlays.

What we do know is that the number of jobs generated thus far falls far short of the mark set by many of our elected representatives. And, until things change, those representatives should not be "cushioned" from the impact of the stimulus package any more than their constituents are.

Tom Steward is investigative director for the Freedom Foundation of Minnesota, an advocacy group focused on fiscal conservatism, transparency and limited government.