President Obama’s $787-billion stimulus package was largely aimed at job creation. In order to get people working as quickly as possible, a lot of that money was going towards “shovel-ready” projects like filling in pot holes and weatherizing buildings. Still, it would take time for local governments to allocate that money, to decide which streets would get the revamping, which buildings would get the upgrades and which companies would do the work.
But as the New York Times and NPR report, in Perry County, Tenn., the government there is putting the money to work even faster — by subsidizing jobs for the unemployed. At a local pie shop, the government money is being used to essentially provide workers for free. The workers at Armstrong Pie Company bake the pies, the business sells them — and the stimulus money covers their wages. Of course, the stimulus money will run out some time, but at least for places like Armstrong, the expanded workforce has allowed the company to sell more pies in more places, and they hope to be able to keep all of the subsidized workers when the stimulus runs out.
When an auto parts factory closed, joblessness in the area rose to 27 percent, almost 20 percent above the national average. Unemployment at Depression-era levels was not something that could wait. Without jobs, people cannot spend money to support the local economy. Businesses suffer. People cannot save or make investments. In Perry County, a town of 7,600, 300 formerly unemployed residents now have jobs, are spending money at area businesses and keeping the economy moving. It’s easy to see why the president made job creation his number one priority.