Secretary promotes stimulus, despite low NH job growth

Friday, November 6, 2009

By ALBERT McKEON

Staff Writer

BEDFORD – Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood defended the $787 billion economic stimulus package even though it has so far failed to meet White House estimates on creating jobs in New Hampshire.

LaHood on Friday didn’t directly answer a question on whether the White House had overestimated that 16,000 jobs would be created or saved in the Granite State by the end of 2010.

LaHood, speaking to reporters after a breakfast with businesspeople, said only: “When the program was put together, people made estimates.”

He added that he didn’t “want to diminish” the jobs that stimulus money has created or saved.

“These people were unemployed,” LaHood said. “We’ll do what we can to get the money out there.”

When the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was signed into law by President Barack Obama in February, the White House regularly touted the estimated number of jobs that would be created or saved in each state. So far, New Hampshire has fallen far short of coming close to the 16,000 projection.

The equivalent of 3,007 full-time jobs were created or saved with stimulus money through September, according to a report released this month by Orville “Bud” Fitch, director of the governor’s Office of Economic Stimulus.

The figure represents a large increase from the last quarterly report – when 796 jobs were tied to stimulus money – but one still short of reaching even a half-way point of 8,000 jobs.

LaHood, though, said that “whatever the estimates were here,” thousands of people are working across the country. He also defended a White House statement Friday that 650,000 people are working nationally as a result of the stimulus package.

“We’re not making this up,” he said. “Those are real numbers.”

LaHood addressed business leaders at the monthly “Politics and Eggs” breakfast. He later toured an access road between the F.E. Everett Turnpike in Bedford and Manchester-Boston Regional Airport that has received stimulus funding.

Earlier this month, U.S. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter questioned the stimulus package’s effectiveness. She voted for the measure in February.

“I know that it has created some jobs, but clearly not what we were anticipating. And again, I think that we should have put more money into the infrastructure so that there’d be more projects that people could work on.”

In a press release issued Friday by the federal transportation department, Shea-Porter shaded her criticism but still reiterated how infrastructure work puts stimulus dollars to good use.

“The Manchester Airport Access Road construction site project is critical for New Hampshire economic development,” she said.

“This is another shining example of how responsible investments of tax dollars benefit New Hampshire, create jobs, and stimulate our economy.”

Few of the jobs created or saved through September were in the private sector.

The vast majority – some 2,800 – were public education or government jobs. The construction industry came in a distant third.

The 3,007-job figure was calculated using the federal government’s formula, which assumes that each person employed by the program worked a 40-hour week throughout the third quarter of the year.

However, it’s far from a perfect estimate, given that some people put to work with federal stimulus money have taken on temporary or part-time positions.

In all likelihood, the number of people employed was greater, but the average length of employment shorter.

Fitch said the government’s method isn’t the only way to calculate job totals under the program. Looked at another way, only 1,862 jobs were created or saved in New Hampshire through September. That estimate assumes each person employed under the program will work a 40-hour work week for a full calendar year.

As of Oct. 7, the state had committed more than $400 million to various projects or programs, according to Fitch’s report.

That’s at least half the $500 million-$750 million Fitch has projected the state will dish out in contracts to various state agencies. It doesn’t include money going directly from the federal government to colleges, private businesses and the like, which totaled another $550 million as of Oct. 14.