Obama stimulus a bust in Berks County

More than $136 million in federal funds has found its way to Berks County from the Obama stimulus bill but the county still has a high unemployment rate, and the county seat, the City of Reading, has one of the highest jobless rates in Pennsylvania.

An examination of Obama stimulus spending by the Reading Eagle has concluded that the package has failed to live up to its No. 1 promise: Create jobs.

From a story by reporter Mary Young:

And while some of the projects funded by stimulus funds are very much in evidence, the jobs that were supposed to come along with the money are not.

In fact, unemployment in Berks rose to 9.9 percent at the end of May, up 1.2 percentage points from May 2009, a few months after the stimulus money became available.

County officials said road and bridge improvements are nice for the community, but what Berks really needs is to get people working.

Read the full story at the link below:

Not much mileage from stimulus funds in Berks