Nov. 1--A QUICK DRIVE AROUND CHICAGO -- on an interstate or neighborhood streets -- and a driver quickly sees signs advertising the $787 billion federal stimulus at work on roads.

But it is in the classroom where the impact might be felt most. Of the 24,448 jobs created or retained in Illinois from the historic spending package, the state reported that 14,330 jobs were in the education sector.

According to figures released Friday by federal officials, the state had the seventh-most stimulus-related jobs of a total 640,329 across the country through the end of September. The new numbers also showed Illinois to be among the leading states in stimulus funding received by state and local agencies, nonprofits and private companies.

The $2.5 billion received in Illinois was second only to California's $8.1 billion, according to the figures.

The preliminary data, reported on the federal government's Web site recovery.gov, are the first submitted by the thousands of recipients among local governments, nonprofits, universities and companies. The data do not include other spending components of the stimulus -- tax cuts, checks mailed to seniors and veterans, and expanded unemployment benefits -- or so-called secondary jobs, such as those in supplying materials for the stimulus projects.

White House officials estimated Friday that the actual number was 1 million jobs created and that their goal of 3.5 million jobs by the end of next year remains reachable. The data do not differentiate between jobs that are public or private, or whether they are retained or created, administration officials acknowledged.

"It's clear the economy is out of the recession, and the stimulus is a big contributor to this," said Gus Faucher, an economist with Moody's and economy.com. "This does provide some interesting evidence that firms, nonprofits and government have responded by hiring."

Faucher also noted how tricky it is to measure when jobs are saved. He drew a distinction between a construction worker building a road and a schoolteacher who keeps her job and can afford to eat out at restaurants.

"The word I would use is 'cautious' " in drawing conclusions from the data, Faucher said. "The 640,000 number, this is only direct jobs. The actual numbers, I think it's going to be substantially larger."

Illinois, with 24,448 jobs, ranks behind states with lower unemployment rates such as New York, Washington and Georgia. Administration officials said that more funding is directed to states with federal facilities or high unemployment rates.

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