INSTITUTE INDEX: Recovery by the numbers

Number of jobs created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to date: 1.6 million to 1.8 million
Total number of jobs created or saved by ARRA in the 13 Southern states*: 624,000
Estimated number of jobs ARRA will create altogether: about 2.5 million
Percentage of working Americans who got a tax cut under ARRA: 95
Number of transportation construction projects funded by the bill: 12,500
Number of housing units that have been rehabbed or developed as part of federal recovery efforts: 143,422
Jobs lost in February 2009, before ARRA passed: more than 700,000
Jobs lost in December 2009, after ARRA passed: fewer than 200,000
Growth in GDP in the last quarter of 2009, which Moody's chief economist and former McCain economic advisor Mark Zandi attributed to ARRA: 5.7%
Number of Republican lawmakers who voted against ARRA but later touted its successes: 110
Date on which Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) railed against ARRA, shouting "Where's the stimulus package?" on the House floor: 7/28/2009
Date on which Kingston's office sent out press releases bragging that he had secured hundreds of thousands of stimulus dollars for more police officers in his district: 7/28/2009
The official unemployment rate today: 9.7%
The true unemployment rate, including those who have quit looking for work: 17%
Unemployment rate for black Americans: 16.2%
Unemployment rate for individuals earning more than $150,000 a year: 3%
Unemployment rate for those in the lowest income tier: 31%
* AL, AR, FL, GA, KY, LA, MS, NC, SC, TN, TX, VA, WV
(Photo from Building Trades Unemployment Insurance Rally.)
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Sue Sturgis
Sue is the former editorial director of Facing South and the Institute for Southern Studies.