2.5 to 3.6 Million Jobs Created or Saved by Recovery Act, Many in Clean Energy

A new report out by the Council of Economic Advisors (CEA), analyzing the economic and job creation impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), finds that the ARRA saved or created millions of jobs. Additionally, one of the areas where Recovery Act funds are stimulating the most private investment is the clean energy sector.


 
“The report finds that the Recovery Act is already responsible for 2.5 to 3.6 million – or about 3 million – jobs and that for every government dollar invested in Recovery Act programs designed to leverage outside capital, private companies and others are co-investing with nearly three times as much outside investment,” the White House reports.

GDP increased by about 2.7 to 3.2 percent as a result of the Recovery Act as well.

And, the big story for those of us trying to address national security and climate change concerns is that “clean energy is one of the areas generating the most Recovery Act outside investment leverage.”

“By sector, the largest amount of total activity supported is in clean energy, where a federal contribution of $46 billion will partner with $107 billion to support over $150 billion in total investments in energy efficiency, renewable generation, research, and other areas.”

As a result of these investments, many clean energy project got off the ground and others barely stayed alive. Wind power got a lot of needed support from the Recovery Act:

• By looking at previous years in which no national investment was spurring private sector activity, compared to years in which there was a national investment, CEA projects that wind capacity additions in 2009 would have been cut by more than half without the Recovery Act and other incentives.

• In 2009, 10,000 MW of wind capacity additions were installed, and the Recovery Act and other incentives were responsible for over 6,000 MW of those additions.

And smart grid projects also got a good deal of support:”Spurred by a $4.5 billion Recovery Act investment, the private sector invested an additional $6 billion in smart grid projects, bringing the total investment to over $10 billion.”

Visit the While House press release or the FULL REPORT for more information on these topics.

Photo Credit: jcolman via flickr