S.C. Comptroller will push to reform the way stimulus jobs are counted

State Comptroller Richard Eckstrom announced Monday he’ll push  to reform the way the federal government counts stimulus jobs. 

“What’s clear is that the way the federal government is counting jobs is badly flawed, and does more to report artificially high numbers than to give an accurate picture of jobs actually created,” said Eckstrom. “From questions about the accuracy of job numbers reported by those receiving stimulus dollars, to the confusion that surrounds guessing the number of jobs that might have been saved by those dollars, numerous media outlets across the country have rightfully questioned the job numbers being reported. Also, the confusion produced by conflicting federal guidance on how to count jobs undermines transparency.” 

During a Nov. 9-10 conference in Washington DC arranged by the National Governor’s Association, Eckstrom was appointed to a task force to study the way stimulus jobs are counted. At the conference, Eckstrom had spoken about the need to improve federal guidelines for counting jobs, saying current methods significantly inflate the numbers. 

As a member of the national task force, Eckstrom will push to improve job-count methods currently used and explore ways to more accurately gauge the stimulus’ impact. One option is to count and report the actual number of labor hours paid for with stimulus dollars rather than to use estimates for the number of jobs created, he said. He calls for making the process more simple and verifiable. 

Under federal guidelines, the reported number of “stimulus jobs saved or created” to date for South Carolina is about 8,100, including about 5,200 reported for state government agencies. About a half of those reported by state agencies were part-time, summer youth jobs — not the kind of jobs necessary to support families or sustain economic growth, Eckstrom said. Being summer jobs, they ended when summer ended, yet federal guidelines directed the state to count and report them as existing jobs. 

“The number of jobs saved or created as reported by the White House simply doesn’t square with the fact that the national unemployment rate continues to rise and has risen above 10 percent,” Eckstrom said. 

“Americans deserve accurate job counts and honest assessments of the stimulus’ impact on our economy.”