What We Learned From the Stimulus: And how to use what we learned to speed job creation in the 2010 jobs bill

Stimulus money invested in public transportation projects created twice as many jobs as highway projects, according to a new report released today by VPIRG, in conjunction with the Center for Neighborhood Technology and Smart Growth America.

But if the Senate doesn’t make changes to Congress’ latest jobs bill this month, it will miss an opportunity to create more jobs, while reducing oil use and carbon emissions, by funding public transportation.

Some Key findings of the report are:

• Investments in public transportation in the first ten months of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) have created twice as many jobs per dollar as investments in highways.
• The $4.4 billion in public transportation funds that have been outlaid so far have created approximately 16,419 job-months per $1billion investment.
• The $15.8 billion in highway funds that have been outlaid so far have created approximately 8,781 job-months per $1 billion dollar investment.
•  In spite of the proven results of investments in public transportation, the House Jobs bill that passed in December largely mimics the investments made in the ARRA that focused disproportionately towards highways with $27.1 billion going towards the Surface Transportation Program (STP) and just $8.4 billion going towards public transportation.
• The Senate plans to take up their version of the jobs bill early in 2010.  They can create more than 71,415 additional job-months, equivalent to year-round employment for 5,951 more workers if they balance the STP funding and funding for public transportation