CBO: Recovery Act Produced Up To 2.1 Million Jobs
02/26/10
Last week was the one year anniversary of the signing of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, an act designed to bring America’s economy back from the brink by giving most Americans the fastest and one of the largest tax cuts in history, create and save jobs, and create a more stable foundation for the economy to grow.
This week the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), a non-partisan office cited by both parties as the official “scorekeeper” for legislation, released a report on the estimated impact of the Recovery Act on employment and economic output from October 2009 through December 2009 and according to the Associated Press, the “report reflects agreement among economists that the measure boosted the economy:”
• A new report by congressional economists says the economic stimulus law produced jobs for 1 million to 2.1 million people by the end of last year.
• The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office study says the $862 billion stimulus added between 1.5 to 3.5 percentage points to the growth of the economy. The controversial stimulus law combined tax breaks for individuals and businesses with lots of government spending. [2/23/10]
Rep. Frank Kratovil released the following statement regarding the report:
“It is unfortunate that analyzing the impact of the ARRA has become so politicized. Fortunately, this non-partisan report confirms that the stimulus effort has had a significant impact in creating and preserving jobs. It is clear that failure to act a year ago would have led to higher unemployment, more pain for small businesses, and a longer and deeper recession. We still have a lot of work to do, but I am pleased to see that our actions are having a positive impact as the economy starts to regain its footing.”
Other findings from the report:
• According to CBO, $272 billion in tax cuts and investments (or about of one-third of the package) from the Recovery Act have gone out through the end of 2009.
• The Recovery Act is estimated to have lowered the unemployment rate by between 0.5 percentage points and 1.1 percentage points in the 4th quarter of 2009.
• In 2010, the CBO estimates that the Recovery Act will:
o Increase the number of people employed by between 1.3 million and 3.3 million;
o Raise real GDP between 1.4 percent and 4.0 percent; and
o Lower the unemployment rate by between 0.7 percentage points and 1.8 percentage points
