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Fallout: The Financial Crisis

Stimulus plans to create, save jobs

Jeremy Hobson Feb 12, 2009
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Fallout: The Financial Crisis

Stimulus plans to create, save jobs

Jeremy Hobson Feb 12, 2009
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TEXT OF STORY

Steve Chiotakis: The government reports that while new unemployment claims dropped a bit from last week, the number is still at a 26-year high — 623,000. And that brings us to that stimulus package that House and Senate negotiators struck a deal on last night. The plan promises that jobs are on the way. But when will they come? Here’s Marketplace’s Jeremy Hobson.


Jeremy Hobson: President Obama wanted the stimulus to create or save 4 million jobs. After yesterday’s negotiations, however, lawmakers say the final number may be closer to 3.5 million.

John Schmitt is an economist with the Center for Economic and Policy Research:

John Schmitt: You know, every time you cut a billion dollars, you’re cutting a certain amount of jobs.

Seven thousand to be exact, he says. The bill will create jobs first in construction and state and local government. Then, Schmitt says, if all goes as planned:

Schmitt: The people who get jobs in the first round will spend the income that they get supporting a broader range of people in the economy, and that is what we really hope will turn the economy around.

So if you’re a recently laid-off waiter, architect or engineer, you may have to hold tight for a bit. Or get a government job — in energy, health care or education.

In New York, I’m Jeremy Hobson for Marketplace.

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