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Stimulus Infrastructure Funding Short-Changes States With High Unemployment

by Jennifer LaFleur and Michael Grabell, ProPublica - February 15, 2009 1:24 pm EST

The money in the stimulus bill slated for transportation and infrastructure--a touch under $100 billion--is likely to be one of the stimulus’ biggest job-generators. But we crunched the numbers and found that the higher a state’s unemployment, the less money it gets.

This map, chart and other stories are part of Eye on the Stimulus, our blog dedicated to tracking the stimulus from bill to building.

Click the arrows on each column below to sort by category. Also, here are our charts of overall spending in the bill and its tax cuts.

State Total Per Unemployed
Worker
Unemployment
Rate
Alabama$603,871,807 $4,592.39 6.1%
Alaska$240,495,117 $9,146.04 7.3%
Arizona$648,928,995 $3,266.35 6.3%
Arkansas$405,531,459 $5,161.07 5.7%
California$3,917,656,769 $2,507.77 8.4%
Colorado$538,669,174 $3,350.75 5.8%
Connecticut$487,480,166 $3,859.46 6.6%
Delaware$158,666,838 $6,328.20 5.6%
District of Columbia$267,617,455 $10,170.15 8.0%
Florida$1,794,913,566 $2,640.03 7.3%
Georgia$1,141,255,941 $3,124.64 7.5%
Hawaii$199,866,172 $6,118.66 4.9%
Idaho$219,528,313 $5,070.87 5.7%
Illinois$1,579,965,373 $3,250.03 7.3%
Indiana$836,483,568 $3,633.52 7.1%
Iowa$447,563,924 $6,191.31 4.3%
Kansas$413,837,382 $5,587.34 4.9%
Kentucky$521,153,404 $3,658.06 7.0%
Louisiana$538,575,876 $4,912.00 5.3%
Maine$174,285,111 $3,890.03 6.3%
Maryland$704,863,248 $4,466.16 5.3%
Massachusetts$890,333,825 $4,385.86 5.9%
Michigan$1,150,282,308 $2,434.37 9.6%
Minnesota$668,242,481 $3,537.08 6.4%
Mississippi$415,257,720 $4,393.84 7.2%
Missouri$830,647,063 $4,095.71 6.7%
Montana$246,599,815 $9,873.87 4.9%
Nebraska$278,897,762 $7,644.80 3.7%
Nevada$270,010,945 $2,369.74 8.0%
New Hampshire$181,678,856 $5,723.97 4.3%
New Jersey$1,335,784,100 $4,855.23 6.1%
New Mexico$299,589,086 $7,187.49 4.3%
New York$2,774,508,711 $4,755.30 6.1%
North Carolina$909,397,136 $2,530.89 7.9%
North Dakota$200,318,301 $16,400.71 3.3%
Ohio$1,335,600,553 $3,071.83 7.3%
Oklahoma$535,407,908 $6,498.38 4.7%
Oregon$453,788,475 $2,832.55 8.1%
Pennsylvania$1,525,011,979 $3,867.38 6.1%
Rhode Island$192,902,023 $3,632.81 9.3%
South Carolina$544,291,398 $2,975.60 8.4%
South Dakota$213,511,174 $14,183.96 3.4%
Tennessee$701,516,776 $3,336.58 6.9%
Texas$2,803,249,599 $4,151.85 5.7%
Utah$292,231,904 $5,702.98 3.7%
Vermont$150,666,577 $7,441.06 5.7%
Virginia$890,584,959 $4,488.29 4.8%
Washington$739,283,923 $3,292.10 6.4%
West Virginia$290,479,108 $7,820.35 4.6%
Wisconsin$716,457,120 $4,116.93 5.6%
Wyoming$186,111,170 $20,126.65 3.2%

Sources: House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics


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