Stimulus Infrastructure Funding Short-Changes States With High Unemployment
by Jennifer LaFleur and Michael Grabell, ProPublica - February 15, 2009 1:24 pm EST
The money in the stimulus bill slated for transportation and infrastructure--a touch under $100 billion--is likely to be one of the stimulusâ biggest job-generators. But we crunched the numbers and found that the higher a stateâs unemployment, the less money it gets.
This map, chart and other stories are part of Eye on the Stimulus, our blog dedicated to tracking the stimulus from bill to building.
Click the arrows on each column below to sort by category. Also, here are our charts of overall spending in the bill and its tax cuts.
| State | Total | Per Unemployed Worker |
Unemployment Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wyoming | $186,111,170 | $20,126.65 | 3.2% |
| North Dakota | $200,318,301 | $16,400.71 | 3.3% |
| South Dakota | $213,511,174 | $14,183.96 | 3.4% |
| District of Columbia | $267,617,455 | $10,170.15 | 8.0% |
| Montana | $246,599,815 | $9,873.87 | 4.9% |
| Alaska | $240,495,117 | $9,146.04 | 7.3% |
| West Virginia | $290,479,108 | $7,820.35 | 4.6% |
| Nebraska | $278,897,762 | $7,644.80 | 3.7% |
| Vermont | $150,666,577 | $7,441.06 | 5.7% |
| New Mexico | $299,589,086 | $7,187.49 | 4.3% |
| Oklahoma | $535,407,908 | $6,498.38 | 4.7% |
| Delaware | $158,666,838 | $6,328.20 | 5.6% |
| Iowa | $447,563,924 | $6,191.31 | 4.3% |
| Hawaii | $199,866,172 | $6,118.66 | 4.9% |
| New Hampshire | $181,678,856 | $5,723.97 | 4.3% |
| Utah | $292,231,904 | $5,702.98 | 3.7% |
| Kansas | $413,837,382 | $5,587.34 | 4.9% |
| Arkansas | $405,531,459 | $5,161.07 | 5.7% |
| Idaho | $219,528,313 | $5,070.87 | 5.7% |
| Louisiana | $538,575,876 | $4,912.00 | 5.3% |
| New Jersey | $1,335,784,100 | $4,855.23 | 6.1% |
| New York | $2,774,508,711 | $4,755.30 | 6.1% |
| Alabama | $603,871,807 | $4,592.39 | 6.1% |
| Virginia | $890,584,959 | $4,488.29 | 4.8% |
| Maryland | $704,863,248 | $4,466.16 | 5.3% |
| Mississippi | $415,257,720 | $4,393.84 | 7.2% |
| Massachusetts | $890,333,825 | $4,385.86 | 5.9% |
| Texas | $2,803,249,599 | $4,151.85 | 5.7% |
| Wisconsin | $716,457,120 | $4,116.93 | 5.6% |
| Missouri | $830,647,063 | $4,095.71 | 6.7% |
| Maine | $174,285,111 | $3,890.03 | 6.3% |
| Pennsylvania | $1,525,011,979 | $3,867.38 | 6.1% |
| Connecticut | $487,480,166 | $3,859.46 | 6.6% |
| Kentucky | $521,153,404 | $3,658.06 | 7.0% |
| Indiana | $836,483,568 | $3,633.52 | 7.1% |
| Rhode Island | $192,902,023 | $3,632.81 | 9.3% |
| Minnesota | $668,242,481 | $3,537.08 | 6.4% |
| Colorado | $538,669,174 | $3,350.75 | 5.8% |
| Tennessee | $701,516,776 | $3,336.58 | 6.9% |
| Washington | $739,283,923 | $3,292.10 | 6.4% |
| Arizona | $648,928,995 | $3,266.35 | 6.3% |
| Illinois | $1,579,965,373 | $3,250.03 | 7.3% |
| Georgia | $1,141,255,941 | $3,124.64 | 7.5% |
| Ohio | $1,335,600,553 | $3,071.83 | 7.3% |
| South Carolina | $544,291,398 | $2,975.60 | 8.4% |
| Oregon | $453,788,475 | $2,832.55 | 8.1% |
| Florida | $1,794,913,566 | $2,640.03 | 7.3% |
| North Carolina | $909,397,136 | $2,530.89 | 7.9% |
| California | $3,917,656,769 | $2,507.77 | 8.4% |
| Michigan | $1,150,282,308 | $2,434.37 | 9.6% |
| Nevada | $270,010,945 | $2,369.74 | 8.0% |
Sources: House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
