Tuesday, February 17, 2009

State-by-state jobs impact detailed for stimulus bill

By Mass High Tech staff

The administration of President Barack Obama released its state-by-state estimates of the impact of the newly passed stimulus bill, and New England stands to gain up to 171,000 new jobs, through investment in areas such as smart-grid technology, health care IT and broadband access.

The stimulus plan, officially known as American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, is estimated to add the following jobs in each New England state:

• 79,000 for Mass.
• 41,000 for Conn.
• 16,000 for N.H.
• 15,000 for Maine
• 12,000 for R.I.
• 8,000 for Vt.

While the latest news was short on exact dollar amounts, one area that was specific was the increase in National Institutes of Health funding by $10 billion, which officials say will clear a backlog of research projects “that have been on hold due to inadequate budgets.” Also in the health care field, the plan calls for the adoption of health information technology by 2014. To help deal with security issues created by bringing health records online, the plan calls for giving $50 million to the Department of Health and Human Services for information technology security.

Smart grid technology funding, to be distributed as part of an $11 billion grid-infrastructure upgrade, is also in the plan’s sights and calls for the deployment of 40 million “Smart Meters” in American homes, and the upgrading of transmission and distribution technologies.

In education, the plan will allow for one-time investments by states and school districts for data systems to support student achievement and growth. And without giving any details, the plan aims to ensure nearly every community in America has high-speed broadband access, officials said.

Other U.S. state job estimates, according to the administration:

• Alabama 52,000
• Alaska 8,000
• Arizona 70,000
• Arkansas 31,000
• California 396,000
• Colorado 59,000
• Connecticut 41,000
• Delaware 11,000
• District of Columbia 12,000
• Florida 206,000
• Georgia 106,000
• Hawaii 15,000
• Idaho 17,000
• Illinois 148,000
• Indiana 75,000
• Iowa 37,000
• Kansas 33,000
• Kentucky 48,000
• Louisiana 50,000
• Maine 15,000
• Maryland 66,000
• Massachusetts 79,000
• Michigan 109,000
• Minnesota 66,000
• Mississippi 30,000
• Missouri 69,000
• Montana 11,000
• Nebraska 23,000
• Nevada 34,000
• New Hampshire 16,000
• New Jersey 100,000
• New Mexico 22,000
• New York 215,000
• North Carolina 105,000
• North Dakota 8,000
• Ohio 133,000
• Oklahoma 40,000
• Oregon 44,000
• Pennsylvania 143,000
• Rhode Island 12,000
• South Carolina 50,000
• South Dakota 10,000
• Tennessee 70,000
• Texas 269,000
• Utah 32,000
• Vermont 8,000
• Virginia 93,000
• Washington 75,000
• West Virginia 20,000
• Wisconsin 70,000
• Wyoming 8,000