Counting Jobs in Georgia

Section 1512 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) requires recipients of Stimulus funds to report spending and jobs information on a quarterly basis. As a recipient of over $5 billion in ARRA funds, Georgia’s State government is committed to complying with federal reporting requirements to ensure that the use and benefit of funds are transparent to the general public.

During the latest 1512 reporting period (Q4 2009), the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) made two specific changes to its guidelines to simplify how job estimates are calculated and reported.

First, recipients will now report job estimates on a quarterly, rather than cumulative, basis. As a result, recipients are no longer required to sum various data on hours worked across multiple quarters of data when calculating job estimates. This change corresponds with GAO’s recommendation to “standardize the period of measurement for Full Time Equivalents (FTE).”

Second, recipients are no longer required to make a subjective judgment on whether jobs were created or retained as a result of the Recovery Act. Instead, recipients will more easily and objectively report on jobs funded with Recovery Act dollars. This update aligns with GAO’s recommendation to make “more explicit that ‘jobs created or retained’ are to be reported as hours worked and paid for with Recovery Act funds.”

To view the OMB guidance (Office of Management and Budget M-10-08, 18 December 2009) go to http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/assets/memoranda_2010/m10-08.pdf

Federal agencies also provide jobs guidance to ARRA recipients. Thus, different approaches to counting jobs can be used from program to program. Specific guidance from Federal agencies can be found on their web sites.

Citizens can access job counts and descriptions of jobs for all ARRA awards in Georgia on the web site’s dashboard feature.

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