Increased Medicaid spending mandated by the federal stimulus plan was found to have created or retained more than 2,000 jobs in Iowa in its first six month by a recent study.

The Iowa Fiscal Partnership conducted the first study that measured the impact that boosts in Medicaid spending, ordered by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, had on state jobs, the Quad City Times reports.

Analysts say that the boost in spending has already created or retained 2,354 jobs and expect the figure to grow to 4,206 by next September.

Of the $787 billion stimulus package, $87 billion was allocated for additional Medicaid spending. The recovery act increased federal investment into Medicaid by raising its share in the jointly-funded program for the poor and disabled, according to the Times.

"That federal spending really finds its way into income support here in Iowa," Dave Swenson, an associate scientist at the Iowa State University economics department and one of the report's authors, told the news source.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Iowa's unemployment rate hit 6.7 percent in September, while the national rate hit 10.2 percent in October.