PROVIDENCE –– Four months since the federal stimulus bill was approved, nearly all the money Rhode Island has received has been swallowed by the state’s budget deficit, leaving a relative pittance for job-creating projects.

Of the $155 million in stimulus funds the state has spent, just $1.6 million has gone to the highly publicized transportation projects that have the greatest potential to put a dent in the state’s skyrocketing jobless rate.

Out-of-work Rhode Islanders had breathed a sigh of relief in February when President Obama signed the historic legislation. The bill, after all, was to dole out billions of dollars to resuscitate the national economy and create jobs.

Instead, the jobless rate in Rhode Island has climbed. In May, it hit 12.1 percent, up from 10.5 percent when the stimulus passed. The jobless rolls have swelled by more than 9,000, to 68,456.

Most economists say it is too early to judge the stimulus, with most of the $1.1 billion coming this way still tied up in Washington. Job creation, meanwhile, typically lags behind economic recovery.

Still, it is increasingly clear that the stimulus package has not supplied the quick injection of cash many expected.

The reasons for the delay are varied, ranging from Mr. Obama’s desire to spread out the spending over several years to the cumbersome procedures for public projects.

The result: Less than a quarter of the $787 billion has been distributed. And much of that spending has gone to covering the everyday costs of cash-strapped state governments.

The money did not go to waste, economists say. In Rhode Island, budget writers faced with dramatic declines in tax receipts are relying on $227 million in stimulus funds for the fiscal year that began Wednesday. John C. Simmons, executive director of the business-backed Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council, said the federal life support helped avoid layoffs of public employees, prevented a massive tax hike and rescued strained social services.

“You would have had fairly dramatic reductions in programs or tax increases,” Simmons said. “Either would have been extraordinarily negative for the economy.”

State officials say deep cutbacks in state spending would have added social workers and hospital and nursing-home staff to the unemployment rolls.

At the same time, however, the bailing out of state budgets has done little to create jobs — a central goal of the stimulus.

In June, the national jobless rate rose to 9.5 percent, the highest level in 26 years. The country lost 467,000 jobs over the month, compared with the 345,000 that evaporated in May.

The U.S. Conference of Mayors has complained that the nation’s largest cities are being shortchanged. And states with sky-high unemployment, such as Nevada, are begging for more support.

In Rhode Island, the best hope for speedy job creation is the state Department of Transportation, where the so-called shovel-ready projects are the closest facsimile to President Franklin Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps.

That Great Depression jobs program yanked scores of the state’s unemployed men from urban joblessness to rural labor. Today’s equivalent –– a nationwide spree of roadway upgrades –– is designed to mobilize idled construction crews.

For Rhode Island, the federal government has made available $138 million for transportation projects. So far, however, the state has spent just $1.6 million, according to the most recent data from the state Office of Economic Recovery and Reinvestment.

The delay, says Jamia McDonald, the state’s stimulus chief, is the result of procedures required for public projects, such as bidding rules and reviews by the Department of Environmental Management. “I know people want to see the money out on the streets,” she said. “But we have to make sure it’s spent wisely.”

In mid-May, for example, the state called for proposals for a $2.3-million stimulus project to repair a section of Route 138. Construction companies had until mid-June to submit bids.

Cardi Corp. was the low bidder. But it says its road crews are still stabled as it answers questions about its equipment, personnel and minority subcontractors, and state and federal reviews are carried out.

Before 30 workers get to work repaving the roadway, landscaping and installing guardrails, a public meeting will have to be held to discuss the project with utility companies, neighbors and town officials.

“That’s the backlog, that’s the lag in getting people to work,” Michael P. Lewis, the DOT director, said. “They wouldn’t waive any existing federal regulations.”

The rainy spring has not helped either, putting off projects such as painting streets.

“The problem is the weather. June was a disaster,” Stephen A. Cardi, the Cardi Corp. treasurer, said. “You can’t put people to work.”

Despite those challenges, dozens of Rhode Islanders have the stimulus to thank for their weekly paychecks.

The DOT has hired 69 employees to oversee 54 stimulus-funded projects. An additional 20 will soon come aboard. Forty-five of those projects have been advertised, 22 contracts have been awarded and at least 8 –– including the construction of a 400-foot rock seawall along the Seekonk River –– have begun, creating 75 private-sector jobs.

At the peak, the projects are expected to employ 1,500 workers.

The Department of Labor and Training is adding 30 employees, including 19 at its career centers, with the federal government footing the bill. This summer, 1,785 Rhode Island teenagers will get jobs paid for by the stimulus.

At the state Department of Human Services, the stimulus is paying for 19 extra employees to meet the increased demands for services such as food stamps.

In May, Governor Carcieri told his economic advisers that the stimulus was “not having any significant impact,” prompting Sen. Jack Reed and the White House to defend the program.

In the long run, state officials agree that the massive federal spending will catalyze economic activity. Rhode Island will ultimately receive $1.1 billion and, potentially, many times that amount in competitive grants that federal departments will hand out to states, cities and towns and businesses.

Forty million dollars coming from the Department of Energy will help Rhode Island contractors find work weatherizing public buildings and houses. An additional $46 million will create jobs replacing water mains and improving sewage treatment plants. The stimulus will also help childcare and community service centers expand, and raise demand for technicians to improve the state’s broadband infrastructure.

For the time being, however, the pace of job creation is falling far short of expectations. “Increases in funding will give us more opportunities for jobs,” McDonald, the state’s stimulus chief, said. “Everyone thought the day the stimulus passed people would have money in their pockets.”

bgedan@projo.com