Newspaper Stories Highlight Fuzziness of "Stimulus" Jobs Math

The following is cross-posted at www.fiscalaccountability.org:

It's only been a few days since the latest set of "stimulus" jobs data was released - you know, the data that had been "checked and double-checked" by the administration - and already the stories blasting the fuzzy math in the latest data are piling up. 

Here's just the first batch:

• Columbus Dispatch: Not all jobs 'saved' by stimulus were in danger
• Denver Post: Fuzzy math so far on stimulus
• The Olympian: Job stimulus report suffers from fuzzy math

We expect this to be just the tip of the iceberg.  After all, it will take folks a few days to sift through the data, but the "jobs saved/created" metric simply will not be able to stand up to critics, because especially the "jobs saved" part is completely fabricated, as Edward Lazear so aptly confirmed in yesterday's Wall Streed Journal.

Our verdict of the bogus "jobs saved/created" metric and the news set of data was pretty clear - read it here if you missed it.

If you've come across a story higlighting the fuzzy "stimulus" math in your state, feel free to send it to us at cfa@atr.org or post it in the comments section, we'll be collecting them all.

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