There are a lot of people wondering: What did the stimulus package do? How does my family benefit? Where are the jobs? The answer is: the stimulus has not solved all of the problems caused by the collapse of the global financial system, and the economy continues to struggle to gain traction. But without the hundreds of billions of dollars injected into the economy by the federal stimulus package, the jobless rate would be much higher and the prospects for recovery would be dim.

The first-time homebuyers’ tax credit and the cash-for-clunker program grabbed headlines and helped thousands of Vermonters, but there is more – much more – to the federal economic stimulus program that has kept Vermont and the nation avoid slipping deeper into recession. Ninety-five percent of Americans, for example, received a tax cut of up to $400 (up to $800 for married families) through the Making Work Pay tax credit.

According to the Internal Revenue Service, there were 313,316 Vermont income tax filers in 2006, the latest data available. The Treasury Department has estimated that the tax credit benefits about 95 percent of working families in Vermont.

Formally known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the ongoing $862 billion bill Congress passed last year has now saved or created at least 2.5 million jobs nationally, according to a recent White House report.

The infusion of federal funds is creating jobs in Vermont, as well.

Through mid-May, nearly $1 billion has been sent to Vermont, creating or saving at least 7,000 jobs. The funds include infrastructure and program costs, as well as payroll. When stimulus-funded tax cuts and grants are included, however, "it would be up to at least $1.3 billion," says Stephen Klein of the Legislative Joint Fiscal Office in Montpelier (initial estimates).

Hundreds of millions of dollars are flowing into Vermont's health care system (READ MORE IN HEALTH CARE), railroads, highways, broadband systems and schools. More than 300 full-time positions are credited with being saved or created because of $143 million of stimulus funds injected into Vermont's school system.  (READ MORE IN EDUCATION). More than $142 million of stimulus money for transportation projects has created in excess of 800 private-sector jobs. (READ MORE IN TRANSPORTATION) Roughly $140 million energy programs are savings energy and creating jobs in the process. (READ MORE IN ENERGY)   Another $50 million is being invested in the state's rail network and $51 million more is being dedicated to improve Vermont's high-speed broadband system. (Note: The figures include the cost of the programs as well as the payroll costs.)

Not only are massive improvements being made to the state’s infrastructure, but Vermonters, themselves, are benefiting.

Both last year and this year, 300,000 Vermont families will receive up to an $800 tax credit. During the two-years, those families will receive up to $1,600 in tax cuts through Making Work Pay program, which is part of the stimulus program. The money is often distributed by withholding fewer federal taxes– not as a check that arrives in the mail.  

“It’s good for them to know where the money went,” said Jacques Trepanier, 55, who was having his mobile home in Barre weatherized with thousands of dollars of stimulus funds last week.  He wasn’t aware that his own weatherization project was being funded with stimulus funds.

“I need to write a letter to Obama and say, ‘Thank you,’” he said.

“People get a little ugly,” Trepanier said when they think hundreds of billions in federal dollars are being used solely to bail out Wall Street. “People need to be educated.”

The thousands of jobs created or saved in Vermont as a result of the federal stimulus program helped prevent Vermont from sinking further during the recession that has lingered since December 2007.  The state’s jobless rate was at least 7 percent for five consecutive months last year. In June, the state’s unemployment rate fell to 6 percent (compared to 9.5 percent nationwide), but 21,600 Vermonters remained jobless.

Jobs created by the stimulus program are helping fill the void. If there were 7,000 fewer jobs last month, 28,600 would have been unemployed and Vermont’s jobless rate would have been 8 percent, assuming the labor force remained the same.

Prominent economists have credited the federal stimulus program with giving the economy a needed jolt.

Mark Zandi, the chief economist of Moody’s Economy.com and one of Senator McCain's top economic advisors during his Presidential campaign, submitted this testimony to the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission:

“The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act passed in early 2009 reduced payroll tax withholding, sent checks to Social Security recipients, and provided financial help to unemployed workers whose normal benefits had run out.  The cash for clunkers program revved up vehicle sales, and the housing tax credit boosted home purchases. … The stimulus did what it was supposed to do: short-circuit the recession and spur recovery."

In the last six months of the Bush Administration, 3.6 million private-sector jobs were lost. In the first six months of 2010, nearly 600,000 private sector jobs were created, according to the Joint Economic Committee.

PAGES OF PROJECTS

Coleen Krauss, the director of the Vermont’s Office of Economic Stimulus and Recovery flipped through pages of jobs created through the stimulus program.

Each of more than 7,000 Vermont jobs reported by Vice President Biden’s Office is accounted for through the pages of data filled with line after line of positions created with stimulus funds. The statistics include 17 positions for rural law enforcement to combat crime and drugs funded with $1.1 million; 81 positions created through $16.8 million Weatherization Assistance Program; and 94 jobs created with $2.8 million to expand child care services to Vermonters in need.  The figures include the cost of the programs as well as the payroll costs.

Many people, however, don’t recognize their position is a result of the federal jobs program. “A lot of the people don’t even realize that their job was created by stimulus money,” said Krauss. “All those people who got hired weren’t told, ‘Hi, you were hired to do stimulus work.'”

Kate Dowling, 29, isn’t in that category. She knows the stimulus program is responsible for her job.

After being jobless for two months, Dowling landed a job as an administrative assistant for Vermont Green at Central Vermont Community Action Council in Barre.

She was living in Randolph and looking for a job in central Vermont. “It was a difficult job market. I know that, in general, right now across the nation it’s very competitive and it certainly seemed that way to me,” Dowling said. “I would apply for really basic positions and I wouldn’t even get called in for an interview. It’s very frustrating.”

“It’s very discouraging to be looking for a job when you feel like there is nothing,” Dowling said.

She was thrilled to find the job helping develop a work force for energy-efficient fields.  “It just felt good to be employed again."

The private-sector is now hiring as a result of the stimulus funding, Krauss said.

David Blittersdorf, CEO and founder of AllEarth Renewables Inc. of Williston, Vt., says he is ramping up his hiring because of the heightened demand for alternative energy created through a $5 million rebate program that was funded through the federal stimulus. One of AllEarth’s main suppliers, NSA Industries , a Lyndonville, Vt. -based machining business is also creating jobs. “NSA is ramping up just like we are,” Blittersdorf said.

The stimulus program has created 17 jobs at EF Wall and Associates Inc. in Barre since the start of the year. The contractor is working to build a new facility for Barre-based SBE Inc., which is using stimulus money to develop batteries for electric vehicles. Combined, the two Vermont companies anticipate creating roughly 70 jobs as a result of stimulus funds, said SBE’s Brad Gordon.

Shortly after the stimulus program was authorized in the early 2009, Krauss said much of the work was created by the states through existing programs and agencies because the goal was to distribute funds quickly.

REBUILDING VERMONT

Hundreds of transportation jobs have been created in the process.

Page after of page of listings for jobs are created through highway programs. The Vermont Agency of Transportation says 809 private-sector jobs have been created at 72 projects a result of the stimulus funds. The state was given $142.9 million for the projects. That funding is just part of the $279.3 million the state has received for transportation, energy and other shovel-ready projects as of May 1, according to the vice president’s office. Program costs are included, as well as payroll.

Those funds have, in turn, created jobs at Vermont companies such as Berlin-based L&D Safety Marking Corp.  To help meet the demand to repaint roads and install new signs, the company added a dozen Vermonters to the work force last year, said Debra Ricker, the company’s vice president.

“We are working everywhere,” she said. “We striped both Interstates border to border,” she said referring to Interstates 89 and 91.

Even with the help of the stimulus, Vermont has not yet emerged from the deepest recession since the Great Depression. In June, 6,000 Vermonters -- or 28 percent of the those jobless -- were unemployed for at least six months, according to the Vermont Labor Department. Another 21,700 Vermonters who have found jobs were forced to work part-time because full-time positions weren’t available.

As the stimulus program continues to funnel money into the state and private businesses continue hire, more people will find jobs.

“It just seems like a really important measure to get things geared up for the future industries that are coming on line, to build that momentum and build that infrastructure” said Dowling, praising the effects of the stimulus in Vermont. “People are glad that the federal government is playing a role to jump-start the economy where it was slow.”

THERE'S MORE

This study provides an overview and focuses on four subject areas: education, energy, healthcare and transportation.  But there is more. Much more.

From $2.8 million in water system improvements in Barton to $81,000 worth of energy efficiency lights installed in Highgate’s elementary school, there are more layers to how the federal stimulus program has been implemented in Vermont so far.  

Burlington, for example, won a $3.1 million federal stimulus grant to improve year-round access to the city's waterfront on Lake Champlain and Montpelier landed an $8 million grant for a wood-chip-fueled renewable energy project for the Statehouse and 175 other buildings in Vermont’s capital city; Montpelier’s project, alone, is estimated to create 35 total new jobs within the project’s first year.

As the money from the stimulus program continues to be spent, jobs will be created and Vermont and the nation will continue to recover from the longest recession since the Great Depression.

To learn more about the stimulus bill, click here.

To learn more about the stimulus bill, as applied in Vermont, click here.

To read Sen. Sanders statement, click here.