Ezra Klein of the Washington Post deals with this claim (that the stimulus was ineffective because of how much money it spent per job created).

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2010/02/bad_stim...

Tax credits, Pell grants, unemployment support: it's not all jobs.

But you have to blame the administration for this [perception], at least in part: They sold the stimulus in terms of job creation, rather than simple economic growth.