Not as Many New Jobs as White House Claims

The White House claims the stimulus plan has created or saved 150,000 jobs since it was enacted 100 days ago.

Jared Bernstein, chief economic adviser to VP Joe Biden, admits that the figures are not a hard count of new hires, but are instead derived from a projection of what the White House believes the unemployment rate would have been if the stimulus had not been enacted.

Essentially we're relying on the White House's optimistic estimate of its accomplishments minus the White House's pessimistic picture of what life would be like without their benevolent and wise leadership.

In contrast:

[T]he House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee asked states to count "direct, on-project jobs created or sustained" through stimulus funding for water, highway and public transit -- programs intended to bring the most employment relief. It reported last week it found a total of less than 7,700 jobs.