If you dig into published statistics you discover that here 15 million people are out of work and joblessness is at the highest level in a generation.
According to the White House web site, recovery.gov, stimulus contracts awarded by federal agencies accounted for only 30,383 new jobs over the last eight months.
The $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was passed last February amid claims by the White House that it would “create or save” 3.5 million jobs over two years. Since its passage, 3.4 million jobs have been wiped out and apologists for the administration have been reduced to arguing that the situation would have been even worse without the stimulus package.
Now the big question is, which segments of the economy will come back first?
With the unprecedented "domino effect" that has occurred, federal and state agencies are looking at strategies that will begin to jump start the economy. But it seems that with interest rates near zero, that banks are still hoarding capital, and until investment funds become available, new growth may be hard to predict.
Further, questions remain as to "what happens when the stimulus funding is gone" and agencies that have not balanced their budgets by then may be forced to cut even more positions.
How can we invest in training the workforce of the future, if we don't yet have a handle on what this workforce will look like?
