Austin TX Jobs Continue to Benefit from Stimulus

The economic stimulus has created hundreds of thousands of jobs throughout America, including billions of Austin TX jobs.

A recent report from Onvia Inc. found that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act created about 800,000 private sector jobs during the last two years. The stimulus is expected to continue creating jobs during 2011, as only 30 percent of the funding has been used so far.

Texas is expected to receive a total of about $16.4 billion during the life of the stimulus. To date, the state has received about $6.7 billion of that funding, which has been used to create roughly 46,134 jobs.

According to an article by the Austin Business Journal, the Austin area received the most stimulus funding in Texas, bringing in about $1.9 billion so far. The Texas Governor's Office received the majority of the city's funding, followed by the Texas Education Agency and the City of Austin itself.

The positive effects of the additional funding can already be seen throughout the local economy. During November, the Austin area's unemployment rate jumped from 6.9 percent to 7.1 percent, but that was still lower than the national average at the time of 9.8 percent.

The Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos area employed a total of 778,500 workers during November, which is up from 774,600 workers during October and a 2.2 percent increase from last year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Austin, Texas, and the rest of the nation should continue to benefit from the ARRA this year. Onvia predicts that government spending at state and local levels will drop slightly from 2010, but that spending will continue to create several new jobs. Check out this list of government job description.

"The $5.5 trillion government marketplace will continue to be a source of revenue and growth for many thousands of businesses in 2011 and beyond," Hank Riner, president and CEO of Onvia, said in a statement.

Austin TX Jobs Sacrificed Under City Budget

Some Austin TX jobs have been sacrificed in exchange for passing the city's budget.

The Austin City Council recently passed the 2011 city budget, which came in at $2.8 billion. The council was able to overcome  a $28 million shortfall, but not without sacrificing some jobs and reducing various department budgets.

A total of about 22 vacant city positions were eliminated in an effort to help save money. In addition, the Planning and Development Review Department only received funding to fill 11 of the department's 25 open jobs.

Funding for those 11 jobs became necessary as local businesses have been calling for a way to increase the speed of the development approval process, which has become strained by city ordinances that regulate construction, according to an article by the Austin Business Journal.

Aside from the job eliminations, the council approved most requests by the Planning and Development Review Department and Economic Growth and Redevelopment Services Office. It did not, however, approve a $385,000 request to establish a global commerce program.

In addition to the annual budget, the Council proposed a property tax rate of 45.71 cents per $100 of assessed property value, which will be voted on at the end of this month. The budget also includes electric, garbage, and water rate increases.