Oregon Public Broadcasting

States are racing to beat this weekend's deadline to report the early results of federal stimulus spending.

Officials in Oregon say the money is well spent, but the initial report won't show that an overwhelming number of new jobs have been created. Salem Correspondent Chris Lehman reports.

For one thing, much of the early stimulus money is being funneled to entitlement programs like Medicaid and Unemployment.

Those don't directly create jobs. And, the amount of jobs created will be reported as Full Time Equivalents. That means two highway construction workers employed half-time will be counted as one job.

Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski's deputy chief of staff, Brian Shipley, says this will be the first glimpse at what's going to be a three-year stimulus roll-out.

Brian Shipley: “This data gives everybody the chance to, if they're interested, look specifically at how their tax dollars are being spent; look at who got hired, and what kind of work got done and how fast it got done.”

The states' reports won't include some federal stimulus money especially important in the northwest. For instance the Forest Service has spent money on wildfire prevention.

Federal agencies will release their own numbers later this month.