John Morgan

NASHVILLE — More than 24,000 jobs in Georgia have been created or saved so far through the federal stimulus, according to federal government estimates which gauge the impact on Tennessee employment at nearly 9,600 jobs.

That puts Georgia at No. 6 and Tennessee at No. 20 in terms of stimulus-related work force positions created or retained by stimulus spending through Sept. 30, reports the federal Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board.

The board is tracking American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds and released the figures over the weekend on its website, Recovery.gov. The figures include state and local government agencies, private sector vendors and nonprofit groups.

Most of the jobs created — or more likely saved, state officials said — were Georgia and Tennessee government positions. The No. 1 beneficiaries in both states are higher education and K-12 education.

Like their counterparts nationwide, both states have seen revenues go into a near freefall during the recession.

“More importantly, those dollars have allowed us to continue to offer services to citizens in an environment where otherwise we would have to cut services,” said Tennessee Deputy Gov. John Morgan.

U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., who is running for Republicans’ 2010 gubernatorial nomination, opposed the federal stimulus package.

“You can always point to silver linings in the cloud,” the Chattanooga lawmaker said, but later noted “when you talk about borrowing almost $1 trillion and adding to the debt and the deficit this much money that will slow our economic recovery, then it obviously is not good long term. ... You also have to look at the overall fiscal picture of our country.”

The federal government estimates that as of Sept. 30, total jobs created or saved by the stimulus in Georgia is 24,681 in terms of federal grants, contracts or loans. Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue’s administration estimates the state is creating or saving 23,635 jobs after having spent some $698 million of $3.3 billion in federal stimulus finds allotted to state government.

In Tennessee, federal figures show 9,548 jobs were saved or created. Gov. Phil Bredesen’s administration estimates 7,710 jobs of those came from out of $203 million in federal stimulus funds it expended out of the total $3.87 billion it expects to receive from the federal government.

A report released Monday by the U.S. Department of Education suggest the biggest impact has been on public education. The report estimates stimulus dollars are going to save or create some 16,711 education jobs in Georgia. In Tennessee, the figure was 5,254.

Georgia Stimulus Accountability Director Sid Johnson said Georgia’s own figures show the stimulus has created or saved 13,557 education jobs. He said he suspects federal officials may have attributed an additional 3,200 jobs in areas such public safety to education because both areas were receiving money out of a pot of money designated as State Fiscal Stabilization Funds.

U.S. Education Department officials did not respond to a voice mail seeking further explanation of the figures. The Obama administration has had other problems in getting stimulus figures right. For example, The Associated Press recently reported some vendors obtaining stimulus-funded contracts had over estimated job creation.

Tennessee had no immediate figures available on the amount of total education jobs saved or created, but state Education Department spokeswoman Rachel Woods said it has been substantial.

“Most of that (stablization funding) was just straight budget dollars to shore up education,” she said. “Most went to higher ed, a percentage went to us.”

Besides stablization funded-jobs, which the state estimated at 3,574 but provided no breakdowns, another category of funding entitled “state education,” indicated that another 1,679 jobs were created or retained. All of that would have gone to K-12, Ms. Woods said.

She said Tennessee’s Basic Education Program funding formula for K-12 is expected to receive a $172 million boost from stimulus funds.

Another major job category for Tennessee was through the Department of Labor and Workforce Development which estimates $24.3 million in federal stimulus funds have created jobs for some 12,000 summer youth jobs. That boiled down to 1,818 full-time equivalent jobs, department spokesman Jeff Hentschel said.

Box: Federal stimulus impact on creating/retaining jobs*

Georgia — 24,681

Tennessee — 9,548

* Source: Federal Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board (Recovery.gov)