Stimulus and jobs: What the fight's all about

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- One of the most important questions surrounding the stimulus program is also one of the most controversial: How many jobs has it created?

The Obama administration credits the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act with turning around the economy and bringing America out of the worst downturn since the Great Depression. Without it, things would have been a lot worse.

Critics, particularly congressional Republicans, say that stimulus has done little to help the economy. They point to the high unemployment rate and to pork-barrel projects they say have done little good.

CNNMoney takes a closer look at the jobs debate.

There are two numbers floating out there, depending on how you count the jobs.

The White House says 640,000 jobs were created or saved through Sept. 30. This counts only jobs funded directly with stimulus money -- such as the teacher who kept her job because of federal aid to the states or the teen who got a summer job through a stimulus-funded program.

The administration is reporting this figure every three months. The next update is due at the end of January.

But the White House recently changed the criteria for counting jobs. The administration initially asked funding recipients to tally jobs that were created or "saved," meaning positions that were at risk of disappearing without stimulus. Going forward, officials just want recipients to add up the total number of jobs funded with stimulus money.

The White House also says the Recovery Act has created 2 million jobs. This figure covers all positions that were touched by stimulus money, not only the 640,000 directly funded by it.