Arkansas News Bureau

LITTLE ROCK — The state plans to create as many as 400 temporary jobs at state agencies with federal stimulus funds, officials said Monday, adding that the jobs will end when the funds run out.

State agencies have already begun hiring temporary workers, Chris Masingill, director of the state office overseeing stimulus spending, said during a town hall meeting Monday to discuss the $2.9 billion Arkansas is to receive in federal stimulus money.

Applicants for the jobs are being asked to sign a letter acknowledging that the positions will not exist once the federal stimulus money runs out, Masingill told representatives from several state agencies during the forum held at the Association of Arkansas Counties building.

The meeting was the sixth in a series of meetings scheduled around the state this summer.

Matt DeCample, spokesman for Gov. Mike Beebe, said Arkansas has had 300 of the temporary jobs approved, including 165 at the state Department of Health, 107 at the Department of Workforce Services and 10 at the Arkansas Economic Development Commission.

“There could be some more but nothing has been set,” DeCample said.

Of the 165 in DHS, 112 will be for family support specialists.

The state jobs end Dec. 31, 2010, when the stimulus money runs out, DeCample said.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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