Any way you slice it, the report Thursday from the University of Wisconsin System about jobs and federal stimulus money is abysmal.
A UW System audit shows that only 137 university jobs, many of them held by students, were created or saved by the $5.2 million in stimulus money it received. That's about $40,000 spent for every job created.
What's more, the report didn't say how many of the jobs were new, or what the exact positions were. Finally, a university spokesman said the number of jobs may not be accurate.
"It's almost certainly not 137 people," said David Giroux, the spokesman.
This instance hardly seems like an efficient use of taxpayer dollars. It makes one wonder how many other examples like this there are across the country.
Meanwhile, Gov. Jim Doyle earlier this week said nearly 8,300 jobs have been either created or saved thanks to the $680 million in federal stimulus funds spent through September. He said 6,100 of those jobs are in the public sector. A "large, large number of private jobs" related to highway work haven't been represented in reporting thus far, Doyle said.
"It's very hard to measure this," Doyle said in a significant understatement.
And that's a problem of the federal stimulus effort. It's very hard, virtually impossible, to know just what specific effect it's having on the national economy. We may never really know.
There is much evidence pointing to a slight economic upturn after nearly a year of deep recession. In Wisconsin, the unemployment rate dropped for the fourth month in a row in September, the state Department of Workforce Development reported Thursday. The jobless rate was 7.7 percent in September - still much higher than the 4.2 percent rate a year ago.
Nationally, retail sales excluding auto sales rose 0.5 percent in September. The Dow Jones industrials average closed above 10,000 Wednesday for the first time since last October.
Americans continue to lose their jobs, however. The national unemployment rate is threatening to top 10 percent. And the number of home foreclosures rose 5 percent from summer to fall.
The White House says the recession would have been worse without the stimulus package. Yet it has no real hard data to back up the assertion. How much of the slight recovery, if there actually is one occurring, is due to the stimulus? How much of it is due to natural cycles?
The unfortunate reality is that we may never know. Or if real answers ever do come, it'll be long after this economic event is past. That's not at all reassuring.
A UW System audit shows that only 137 university jobs, many of them held by students, were created or saved by the $5.2 million in stimulus money it received. That's about $40,000 spent for every job created.
What's more, the report didn't say how many of the jobs were new, or what the exact positions were. Finally, a university spokesman said the number of jobs may not be accurate.
"It's almost certainly not 137 people," said David Giroux, the spokesman.
This instance hardly seems like an efficient use of taxpayer dollars. It makes one wonder how many other examples like this there are across the country.
Meanwhile, Gov. Jim Doyle earlier this week said nearly 8,300 jobs have been either created or saved thanks to the $680 million in federal stimulus funds spent through September. He said 6,100 of those jobs are in the public sector. A "large, large number of private jobs" related to highway work haven't been represented in reporting thus far, Doyle said.
"It's very hard to measure this," Doyle said in a significant understatement.
And that's a problem of the federal stimulus effort. It's very hard, virtually impossible, to know just what specific effect it's having on the national economy. We may never really know.
There is much evidence pointing to a slight economic upturn after nearly a year of deep recession. In Wisconsin, the unemployment rate dropped for the fourth month in a row in September, the state Department of Workforce Development reported Thursday. The jobless rate was 7.7 percent in September - still much higher than the 4.2 percent rate a year ago.
Nationally, retail sales excluding auto sales rose 0.5 percent in September. The Dow Jones industrials average closed above 10,000 Wednesday for the first time since last October.
Americans continue to lose their jobs, however. The national unemployment rate is threatening to top 10 percent. And the number of home foreclosures rose 5 percent from summer to fall.
The White House says the recession would have been worse without the stimulus package. Yet it has no real hard data to back up the assertion. How much of the slight recovery, if there actually is one occurring, is due to the stimulus? How much of it is due to natural cycles?
The unfortunate reality is that we may never know. Or if real answers ever do come, it'll be long after this economic event is past. That's not at all reassuring.
