"The Recovery Act added as much as 3.2 per cent to the level of fourth quarter GDP and raised employment by as many as 3.6 million jobs," the Council of Economic Advisory (CEA) said in its report on the economic stimulus on Friday.

"As of the fourth quarter of 2010, the Recovery Act raised employment by 2.5-3.6 million jobs.

GDP began to grow steadily in the third quarter of 2009, and has now grown for six consecutive quarters, including continued growth in the fourth quarter of 2010," it said.
"The Recovery Act has raised the level of GDP as of the fourth quarter of 2010 by between 2.3 per cent and 3.2 per cent.

Public investment spending on items such as infrastructure and clean energy under the Recovery Act now totals USD 142 billion," the report said.

Overall, the Recovery Act has played a significant role in the turnaround of the economy, which has grown for six straight quarters and has added 1.5 million private sector jobs over the past 12 months, the CEA said in its sixth quarterly report.

Welcoming the report, the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the Recovery Act brought US economy back from the brink and put millions of Americans back to work.

"Since we passed it, the economy has grown for six straight quarters and we have added 1.5 million private sector jobs in the last year. But there is still more work to be done and many Nevadans are still struggling to make ends meet," Reid said.