Recovery Act May Have Added at Least 1.2 Million Jobs in First Quarter

 

Congressional Budget Office estimates the recovery act's spending helped raise gross domestic product by a range of 1.7 to 4.2 percentage points and lowered the unemployment rate by 0.7 to 1.5 percentage points.

Congressional Budget Office stated the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act helped create between 1.2 million and 2.8 million jobs during the first quarter of this year.

The 19-page report is the latest in a series of assessments of the effectiveness of the $862 billion recovery package, which was made up of about two-thirds increased spending and one-third tax cuts. Transportation projects received $48 billion from the act, 5.6 percent of the total amount.

AASHTO maintains a website, recovery.transportation.org, documenting the successes of state transportation departments in putting their recovery act funds to work across America.

– Courtesy of AASHTO