Obama's Job Alchemy: Pay Raises for Bureaucrats Become Jobs "Saved or Created"

The Administration's bogus job numbers are so outlandish that even the Associated Press is pointing out that the Emperor has no clothes. The AP report notes that the White house claim of 600,000-plus jobs is based on absudities such as claiming a job is saved when bureaucrats get pay increases. The White House also counted 935 jobs for an agency that has only 508 employees. For people in the real world, the actual data from the Department of Labor show that total employment has dropped by more than 3 million since Obama took office:

The government’s latest tally of stimulus jobs counted pay increases for existing workers as jobs saved in a popular federal preschool program, raising fresh questions about the process the Obama administration is using to tout the success of its $787 billion economic recovery plan. A review of the latest stimulus reports - which the White House promised would undergo extensive reviews to ensure accuracy - found that more than two-thirds of 14,506 jobs credited to the recovery act by Head Start programs involved pay increases. Health and Human Services spokesman Luis Rosero defended the practice. “If I give you a raise, it is going to save a portion of your job,’’ he said. ...Most of the inflated figures were like those cited in the 935 saved jobs reported by the Southwest Georgia Community Action in Moultrie, Ga. Director Myrtis Mulkey-Ndawula said she followed the guidelines the Obama administration provided and multiplied her 508 employees by 1.84 - the percentage pay raise they received - and came up with 935 jobs saved. ...More than 250 other community agencies receiving stimulus cash from the HHS Administration for Children and Families similarly reported saving jobs when using the money to give pay raises, pay for training and continuing education, extend employee work hours, or buy equipment, according to their spending reports.