Politics

CBO Concludes 600,000 to 1,600,000 Jobs Thanks To Recovery Act

By Karina

A report released yesterday by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) concluded that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act created or saved between 600,000 and 1.6 million jobs, reduced unemployment and increased the GDP between 1.2% and 3.2% in the third quarter of 2009 alone. That?s a slight revision showing more jobs and growth from CBO?s March analysis based on more precise projections.

From the CBO report:

In March 2009, CBO projected that in the third quarter of 2009, U.S. employment would be higher by 600,000 to 1.5 million people with ARRA than it would be without the law, and real GDP would be 1.1 percent to 3.0 percent higher?

Taking into account the slightly faster implementation of certain tax cuts and the slightly slower pace of outlays, CBO now estimates that in the third quarter of calendar year 2009, ARRA?s policies raised real GDP by between 1.2 percent and 3.2 percent, lowered the unemployment rate by between 0.3 and 0.9 percentage points, and increased the number of people employed by between 600,000 and 1.6 million compared with what those values would have been otherwise.

The Wall Street Journal:

The Congressional Budget Office late Monday said it estimates that the federal stimulus package sustained between 600,000 and 1.6 million jobs in the third quarter, and raised gross domestic product by 1.2 to 3.2 percentage points higher than it would have been without the program?

The CBO in March projected that the stimulus would result in 600,000 to 1.5 million more jobs than would have existed without the spending [in the third quarter]?

“Economic output and employment in the spring and summer of 2009 were lower than CBO had projected at the beginning of the year. But in CBO’s judgment, that outcome reflects greater-than-projected weakness in the underlying economy rather than lower-than-expected effects” of the stimulus, according to Mr. Elmendorf’s blog post.

Read the full CBO report»
Read CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf’s blog post»

Full post as published by The Gavel on December 01, 2009 (boomark / email).