by Kristina Rasmussen

Recovery.gov breaks down the jobs created/saved by the stimulus by congressional district. For Illinois, the vast majority of jobs created/saved were in the 18th congressional district, which is represented by Representative Aaron Schock (R). With 16,996.7 jobs created/saved in the 18th district, the next largest jobs total is 3,444.3 in the 7th district.

What gives? A closer look at the details shows that 14,233.5 jobs created/saved in the 18th came from the Illinois State Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, which is located in Springfield. The office counted education jobs saved across the state in their totals (and in some cases, overcounted), yet all were allocated to the 18th district. Another 2,030 jobs came from the Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration, also in Springfield.

Data reported on Recovery.gov is increasingly unreliable (see fuzzy job numbers math and phantom congressional districts). If the designers of Recovery.gov hoped to sway future congressional votes with the district-by-district job numbers, they're not doing a great job of presenting credible information.

In other news, pity Illinois's 3rd congressional district -- it has only received 14.8 jobs from the stimulus so far.