When 40 positions become two

Federal job promises don't add up

A joint press release from Montana Sens. Max Baucus and Jon Tester earlier this week claimed that $1.3 million in federal recovery funding would create 40 new jobs for the Flathead City-County Health Department.

The money, however, simply will provide another year of funding for the department's Community Health Center, an operation that already has 10 full-time positions and plans to add only two more jobs during the next fiscal year.

"Dozens of new jobs will boost the Flathead Valley, thanks to $1.3 million in funding announced by President Barack Obama and Senators Max Baucus and Jon Tester," according to the press release. "President Obama says the money, which will go to the Flathead City-County Health Department in Kalispell, will create 40 new jobs."

Baucus spokesman Barrett Kaiser and Tester spokesman Aaron Murphy both attributed the 40-jobs claim to the White House and the Department of Health and Human Services. They could not elaborate on how national and local employment estimates were generated.

In announcing the nomination of top health executives to lead the department, Obama on Monday highlighted the allocation of $155 million to 126 community health centers as part of the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the Reuters wire service reported.

"The Health and Human Services Department said the money would create 5,500 new jobs and help provide health care to an estimated 750,000 low-income Americans," Reuters reported.

But the actual employment plans at the Flathead Community Health Center - announced that same day - raise questions about how the department arrives at its estimates.

Job creation estimates have come with federal highway funding using formulas that account for economic multipliers. But those estimates are applied to projects across the state, involving hundreds of contractors and subcontractors spending millions on materials and supplies with a trickle-down employment effect.

In the case of the Community Health Center funding, two new positions over the next year apparently will not have the trickle-down effect of creating 40 local jobs.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com