The Associated Press reported yesterday that the Administration for Children and Families, a department of the Department of Health and Human Services, has been using a math not commonly taught in public schools. According to the AP one such numerical miracle occurred in Georgia where the administration counted 935 jobs saved by stimulus money. Impressive until you find out they only have 508 employees.

The rest of us might think a straightforward headcount of people you didn’t layoff because of the stimulus would be the best way to find out how many jobs were saved. But that isn’t how the government directed them to do it. Instead they developed an interesting mathematical exercise that clearly was beyond some individuals capabilities.

The reason the feds are in the business of creating math puzzles (outside of the “to be expected” budget boondoggling) is that they truly believe that providing somebody with a raise is equivalent to saving a job, or at least a 1.84% of a job. “If I give you a raise, it is going to save a portion of your job,” said HHS spokesman Luis Rosero. But perhaps they weren’t as clear with their instructions as they needed to be considering the results.

According to the AP some Head Start programs counted every raise given as a job saved. Then there is the Bergen County Community Action Program in Hackensack, NJ, who received $213,000 in stimulus money that they gave out as raises to existing employees and then reported 85 jobs saved. Director of the Southwest Georgia Community Action Council Myrtis Mulkey-Ndawula said that “it was confusing at best, but we followed the instructions we were given.” This is the person who multiplied 508 by 1.84 to reach 935 jobs saved.

“It’s a glitch in the system,” said Ben Allen, the research director of the National Head Start Association. “There was some misunderstanding among some in the Head Start community about completely the reporting requirements.” 

That may seem like a vast understatement but in fact getting an accurate count of the effects of stimulus money is tricky.  Steven Davis, a University of Chicago economics professor says it may take a while to get a correct figure. “We will probably have a better sense two years down the road, after a number of careful studies. But even then, there will be lots of arguments.”