Last week the Council of Economic Advisers released a new analysis that finds that the Recovery Act was responsible for 55,000 jobs in Missouri the first quarter of 2010.
The analysis follows a report released earlier in the week by the CEA that showed that the Recovery Act was responsible for about 2.5 million jobs nationwide in that same period – half of which were as a result of the over $200 billion in Recovery Act tax relief and financial assistance that has gone directly to mostly lower- and middle-income families.
According to the report, without these provisions, household real disposable (or after-tax) income would have fallen substantially in 2009 and consumer spending would not have rebounded as it did. Instead, income in each of the last three quarters of 2009 actually surpassed its level in the fourth quarter of 2008 and the surge in Recovery Act tax relief this tax season is expected to yield the largest Recovery Act impact on household disposable income yet in the first quarter of 2010.