Stimulus Infrastructure Funding Short-Changes States With High Unemployment

Feb. 17, 2009, 1:17 p.m. EST

The White House just issued a press release crowing that the stimulus package—to be signed today by President Obama—will create or save 3.5 million jobs over the next two years. The money slated for transportation and infrastructure—a touch under $100 billion—is likely to be one of the stimulus’ biggest job generators.

But we’ve crunched the numbers on the final bill and found that states with high unemployment are actually getting less money per-capita or even per-unemployed worker than states with low unemployment.

We reported a similar pattern last month with the House’s initial version of the bill. This time the relationship is even more pronounced: On average, the higher a state’s unemployment, the less money it gets.

To get specifics, check out our map and chart with state-by-state numbers.

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