Stimulus Funds to States with High Unemployment

Jobless rates no factor for stimulus money, By Dennis Cauchon, August 4, 2010, USA Today: “States with the highest jobless rates are getting less money per person under the federal stimulus program than states with below-average unemployment, a USA TODAY analysis finds. Hard-hit Florida ranks last in stimulus benefits per resident despite having the nation’s fifth-highest unemployment rate. Nevada has the nation’s worst unemployment – 14.2% – but ranks 46th in stimulus benefits. By contrast, North Dakota has the nation’s lowest jobless rate – 3.6% – but ranks fourth in stimulus benefits. Alaska ranks No. 1 in stimulus aid – $3,505 per person – and has a jobless rate below the 9.5% national rate. Stimulus benefits skew to better-off states because of longtime federal spending formulas that consider many things – income, population density, highway fatalities – but usually not unemployment. Result: States that do well under federal formulas prospered again in the $862 billion stimulus law, regardless of their jobless rate…”