AP Reporters - Stimulus Jobs Overstated By White House

Stimulus jobs overstated by thousands,' by Brett J. Blackledge and Matt Apuzzo- AP:

'A Colorado company said it created 4,231 jobs with the help of President Barack Obama's economic recovery plan. The real number: fewer than 1,000. A child care center in Florida said it saved 129 jobs with the help of stimulus money. Instead, it gave pay raises to its existing employees. Elsewhere in the U.S., some jobs credited to the stimulus program were counted two, three, four or even more times. The government has overstated by thousands the number of jobs it has created or saved with federal contracts under the president's $787 billion recovery program, according to an Associated Press review of data released in the program's first progress report. ... The errors could be magnified Friday when a much larger round of reports is released. It is expected to show hundreds of thousands of jobs repairing public housing, building schools, repaving highways and keeping teachers on local payrolls. ... 'Part of this is, it's an unprecedented effort,' said Tom Gavin, a spokesman for the White House budget office. 'It's as new to recipients who have to do it as it is to the American people who are able to view this data for the first time.''