Over the past week, we examined Maine, Vermont, Tennessee, Arkansas and Alaska to see the effects that the “Summer of Recovery” and “stimulus” had in those states. The data further proves that the “stimulus” has had little effects on job recovery.
For instance, every state we have examined this past week has had an increase in unemployment except for Vermont. Maine, Tennessee, Arkansas and Alaska have had an overall increase in their unemployment rates of between 0.5% and 1% since January of 2009. In Vermont, the unemployment rate has dropped by 0.2% in the same time frame.
Oddly, states that received a higher amount of “stimulus” were not likely to have a better outcome. Alaska received nearly $2 billion in “stimulus” monies while the unemployment rate increased by 0.6% since January of 2009. In Arkansas, a state that has a labor force roughly four times larger than Alaska and received nearly the same amount of “stimulus,” the unemployment rate increased by 0.9% since January of 2009. It is apparent that the amount of “stimulus” a state receives has no bearing on the overall jobs situation.
The notion that the more “stimulus” a state receives the better off it is can be completely debunked if you look at Vermont. Alaska and Vermont have a similarly sized labor force of about 360,000 people. Vermont received just over $750 million in “stimulus” while Alaska scored nearly $2 billion. But the unemployment situation improved in Vermont and not in Alaska. Further, Vermont received over 1,000 less “stimulus” awards but is better performing on employment.
But just look to Tennessee to see a state that has received a considerable amount of “stimulus” and has not had a better employment report. Since January of 2009, the unemployment rate in Tennessee has increased by 0.6% and hangs just below 10%. Tennessee did receive nearly $5 billion in “stimulus” but the economy is doing far worse now than it was before the “stimulus” came in. There is no evidence from the government’s own employment reports that supports that the “stimulus” has led to a net gain of jobs.
It is also important to note that according to the “Summer of Recovery” activity map provided by the White House, the only state that we examined over the past week that had any projects this summer was Tennessee—and they only had 3.
As we continue to examine the effects of the “stimulus” and the “Summer of Recovery” we will look for emerging trends that further illustrate how little the Big Government programs employed to create a “recovery” have done to reach any level of effectiveness. Please visit NetRightDaily.com to continue following this series.
Adam Bitely is the Editor-in-Chief of NetRightDaily.com.
