Half of Stimulus Jobs Saved in Education?

Conn Carroll / October 21, 2009

Yesterday the Washington Post reported:

Federal economic recovery aid has created or saved 250,000 education jobs, the Obama administration announced Monday, although states and school systems continue to face enormous fiscal pressures.

But earlier this year Vice President Joe Biden told the Brookings Institution:

Two hundred days ago, President Obama signed into law the third piece of our economic plan: the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. And today there’s a growing consensus: The Recovery Act is, in fact, working. Don’t just take my word for it. Analysts from Moody’s to IHS Global Insight, to the Economic Policy Institute and others all estimate the Recovery Act has created or saved between 500,000 to 750,000 jobs.

So the Obama administration’s $787 stimulus has created 500,000 jobs so far, and half of them half been in the education sector? Education is such a small sector of the overall economy that the Bureau of Labor and Statistics lumps it in with health services. Even then, according to the most recent employment report, the combined education/health services sector makes up only 15% of our economy. According to ProPublica, the federal government has spent $288 billion so far with $67 billion of that going to education. So 23% if the spending has caused 50% of the job saving/creation? (more…)