Hungry for jobs, Georgia has spent hundreds of millions of public dollars in the last decade on grants to recruit and retain businesses.

But an extensive review by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution of completed projects shows nearly half the companies the state wooed with deal-closing cash failed to deliver the full number of jobs they promised. Collectively, the under-performers, which were awarded more than $106 million in state grants, fell short of their job-creation promises by 42 percent.

Even so, government officials rarely recouped the public’s money.

In fact, under the state’s accountability agreement, many companies can — and do — escape any penalty even when they deliver only a portion of the jobs and private investment they pledged. Until very recently, companies had to deliver only 70 percent to satisfy their legal obligations, effectively a C or better. Today, the standard is 80 percent.

The state’s own data, culled by the AJC from thousands of pages of files, raise questions about how carefully it selects the companies that receive incentives and how rigorously it polices their performance.

The AJC based its analysis on a review of more than 150 files covering two categories of state grants awarded since 2002. EDGE grants had been funded from a landmark settlement with tobacco companies but are now paid for with tax dollars. REBA grants are paid directly with taxpayer money.

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