Economists: Obama’s Jobs Plan Would Help Prevent a Double-Dip Recession

Ever since President Obama released his jobs plan earlier this month, Republicans have been claiming that it will not the help the economy. “What the president’s proposed so far is not serious. And it’s not a jobs plan,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). “I just don’t think that is really going to help our economy the way it should,” added Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH). Many Republicans derided the plan as a “second stimulus,” ignoring the success of the first.

However, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg News, the jobs plan that President Obama introduced would help prevent a double-dip recession by boosting economic growth and bringing down unemployment next year:

President Barack Obama’s $447 billion jobs plan would help avoid a return to recession by maintaining growth and pushing down the unemployment rate next year, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

The legislation, submitted to Congress this month, would increase gross domestic product by 0.6 percent next year and add or keep 275,000 workers on payrolls, the median estimates in the survey of 34 economists showed. The program would also lower the jobless rate by 0.2 percentage point in 2012, economists said.

Though they weren’t overly optimistic that the plan would lead to loads of new hires, the economists said that the plan “prevents a serious drag on the economy next year.” The White House has expressed a desire to have a vote on the jobs plan take place next month, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has said that the plan will not come up for a vote until the Senate votes on a bill that would crack down on China’s currency manipulation.