Buckets of Jobs

Last week acting NIH director Raynard Kington described the outlines of the Institutes’ participation in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, popularly known as the stimulus package. New NIH funding totals $10.4 billion.

Conservatives with a limited understanding (or, it seems, interest) in economics have decided that do-nothingism is a fair 21^st century complement to know-nothing ancestors. But not only do economists agree that funds injected into the economy is exactly what is needed now, investments in science and technology are perhaps among the most stimulative for the long and the short term. Among the package’s goals are to preserve and create jobs and promote economic recovery and to provide investments that will increase economic efficiency by spurring technological advances in science and health.

As we recently pointed out, a raft of studies has shown that science and technology incubators are among the best ways to create jobs, most recently one from the Department of Commerce. But basic research not only leads to technologies that can be applied, it also creates and supports jobs right away. As Senator Harkin emphasized during the Senate debate on the president’s proposal, “[E]very time a researcher gets a grant, it supports an average of seven jobs.”

Dr. Kington’s pointed out that the responsibility of all the agencies receiving these funds is to ensure that their effects are felt within the next two years. Among the buckets he described will be short-term grants, targeted supplements to current grants, and new challenge grants with expectations of progress within two-years.

This unprecedented opportunity for American science has been met with great excitement in universities around the country, many of which are experiencing severe retrenchment that will make it difficult for them to fulfill their missions, even as more people decide to seek degrees until the recession passes. At the same time, talking with colleagues around the country, I note the grave sense of obligation to meet the president’s goals.  Over the next few weeks we will continue to follow the plan’s specifics and the scientific community’s progress in meeting the goals of the package.

Image: flickr.com/gregclarkephotography

Tags: funding, NIH

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