RNC accuses WH of 'manufacturing' stimulus impact stats

The Obama administration is "manufacturing" the employment statistics it's using to support its policies, the Republican National Committee (RNC) charged.

Ahead of the administration's expected release of new figures on the impact on employment from its trademark stimulus package, the RNC said those figures "cannot be trusted."

"With a pattern of these White House 'jobs created or saved' reports being published in close proximity to releases of real data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (showing continuing job loss and rising unemployment), it is clear the Obama administration is trying to cover up economic reality by manufacturing job numbers out of thin air," RNC Research Director Jeff Berkowitz wrote in a memo to Republicans to coincide with the stimulus figures tomorrow.

The memo points to alleged inconsistencies and inaccuracies in official administration analyses today of the stimulus package, which President Barack Obama and his administration have said staved off even worse economic times and more dismal unemployment.

The RNC said that the administration's estimates are essentially based on rough estimates they compel states to make about the impact of their stimulus projects.

"The Obama Administration is essentially forcing states to make a wild guess as to how many jobs were 'created or saved' by the stimulus," Berkowitz wrote in the memo. "Whatever stimulus job estimates the Obama administration releases today, the facts show that their numbers cannot be trusted."

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