CNSNews.com - CBO Report: Hard to Say How Many Jobs Really Saved by Stimulus

CNSNews.com - CBO Report: Hard to Say How Many Jobs Really Saved by Stimulus:

President Barack Obama is introduced by Vice President Joe Biden as they announce economic initiatives for struggling middle class families, Monday, Jan. 25, 2010, in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building across from the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

(CNSNews.com) – Even as President Barack Obama and administration officials declared this to be “Recovery Summer,” it is difficult to determine whether the administration’s jobs boasts are accurate, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the accounting arm of Congress.

The CBO’s quarterly report of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, better known as the stimulus package, was released Tuesday.

The CBO found 749,142 full-time jobs were funded by stimulus dollars in the second quarter of 2010. This data was based on recipient reports to the government. But the CBO said these recipient reports, “do not provide a comprehensive estimate of the law’s impact on U.S. employment, which could be higher or lower than the number of FTE [full-time equivalent] jobs reported.”

The CBO analysis goes on to say, “Some of the jobs included in the reports might have existed even without the stimulus package, with employer working on the same activities or other activities.”