Maps of Jobs Created in Your Community by the Local Jobs for America Act

The Local Jobs for America Act, introduced by Congressman Miller, chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, would create or save 1 million jobs. The two largest components of the Act are the Local Community Jobs Program ($75 billion) and funding for education jobs ($23 billion).

We have created maps, based on estimates provided by the House Education and Labor Committee, to show the following:

• For the Local Community Jobs Program: total funds and total jobs, shown at the local and state level, in the first year (this program is funded for two years under the Act, for a total of $75 billion).
• For education jobs: total funds, shown at the state level, for one year.

Is your state east or west of the Mississippi? Due to the large number of data points, we split the national map into two maps:

The first map is West of the Mississippi (Arkansas, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Iowa, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Nebraska, New Mexico, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wyoming)
The second map is East of the Mississippi (Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, Washington DC, West Virginia, Wisconsin)

Are you interested in estimates for cities, counties, smaller towns and rural counties, or states overall? At the bottom of each map you will find a key to different flag colors on the map. All the total funds and total jobs estimates refer to the Local Community Jobs Program, except the “Education Jobs Fund” estimate displayed under the State Totals flag. All estimates are based on one year of funding.

• Red flags (“City Info”) display total funds and total jobs at the city or county level.
• Blue flags (“Smaller Towns and Rural Counties”) display total funds and total jobs for all the smaller towns and rural counties in the state. (For more information about how funds are distributed to smaller towns and rural areas in each state, see this detailed summary of the Act.)
• Green flags (“State Totals”) display state totals for funds and jobs for the Local Community Jobs Program and the state total for education job funds.
• Both the blue and green flags are planted in the same place, roughly in the center of a state.
• To isolate a flag color or type, click on that flag in the key at the bottom of the map.
• To navigate quickly to a place of interest, try entering the name of a city or state into the search box in the upper right corner.

Methodology Notes: The estimates on the map were developed by the House Education and Labor Committee based on a number of assumptions, including: 1) formula funding based on population and poverty data from 2000 and unemployment data from October 2009; 2) average wage and benefit rates for retained local government employees at $60,000 per year, new local government hires at $50,000 per year, and new nonprofit hires at $40,000; and 3) use of funds at 50% to retain current local government employees, 25% for new local government hires, and 25% for new nonprofit hires. State projections for education funding were prepared by the Congressional Research Service in April 2010, based on U.S. Census Bureau population estimates for 2008. For further detail on methodology, please see the last page of the House Education and Labor Committee document.