Tallying "jobs created or saved"

It's hard to get too excited about the idea of saving 30,000+ jobs as a result of the stimulus bill passed earlier this year as reported in USA Today, but a neat interactive graphic makes it a bit more interesting than it might otherwise be if for no other reason than to watch those little balls on the right (representing U.S. states) rearrange themselves when making a new selection in the drop-down box.
Go ahead - try it. Here's the link again. Surely, you'll agree.

From the USA Today story:

Contractors that split $16 billion in federal stimulus money created or saved 30,383 jobs, according to government reports published Thursday that for the first time tally the plan's impact.

The figure represents only a narrow slice, about 2%, of Obama's $787 billion economic recovery plan. But it marks the first hard count of the jobs preserved by the spending plan. They are based on reports by about 5,200 companies hired directly by the federal government for work ranging from small park repairs to multibillion-dollar nuclear cleanups.

The impact varied widely from state to state. The reports, released by the administration's Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, identified almost 4,700 full-time jobs in Colorado, but fewer than six in Rhode Island, which had the nation's third-worst unemployment rate in August. In Michigan, which had the nation's highest unemployment rate, the contracts created or saved fewer than 400 full-time jobs.

Obama has said the stimulus will create or save 3.5 million jobs by the end of next year, but measuring that impact has been difficult. The White House Council of Economic Advisors estimated last month that the stimulus had retained 1 million jobs that otherwise would have been lost. Overall, the economy has shed more than 2 million jobs since Obama signed the stimulus package in February.

Well, it's a start. That is, except for Rhode Island.