BOSTON (AP) - Hundreds of companies that have received tax breaks under a Massachusetts job-creation incentive program created far fewer spots than promised and some even cut positions, according to a review of state records.

More than 40 percent of companies that received state and local tax breaks over the last 16 years under the Economic Development Incentive Program pledged to create 10 full-time jobs or fewer. Of those, nearly four dozen promised only to add one full-time job.

The Boston Globe reported in Sunday's editions that its review of state records found some got subsidies for projects they planned to build even without the tax breaks. Others got generous packages for creating a handful of low-paying jobs.

Even when jobs are cut, the state often takes years to end a tax break - if it takes any action at all - and officials could not name a case in which they asked a company to repay subsidies, the Globe reported. "Oversight is practically nonexistent," said Neil Cohen, Massachusetts' deputy inspector general, whose office has criticized the program. "The state must ensure that it is getting something for what amounts to an investment."

State officials say the program has helped attract life sciences companies, high-tech research parks and manufacturing plants to Massachusetts.

For instance, the state helped persuade pharmaceuticals giant Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. to build a $750 million drug manufacturing plant at the old Fort Devens Army base in Devens by offering the company roughly $70 million in tax incentives four years ago.

Bristol-Myers has hired 250 employees at the site and plans to hire 100 more when it starts production next year.

But several other companies have shed jobs despite having the state and local tax breaks under the job-creation incentive program.

In Billerica, Canadian telecommunications equipment maker Nortel Networks promised a decade ago to expand the campus, keep 2,200 jobs and add up to 800 more. Instead, it has slashed operations and is down to 145 jobs at the site, though its tax breaks are set to continue through 2014.

A Fall River rubber parts maker pledged to create 20 jobs, but cut 36 instead. A manufacturer in Orange promised to add five full-time jobs, but cut a half-dozen or more instead, the Globe reported.

Greg Bialecki, the state's secretary of housing and economic development, said the program has had "hits and misses" over the years.

"I think there were definitely cases where the (incentives) were used for very significant job creation," said Bialecki, who has been working with Gov. Deval Patrick and lawmakers to revamp the program. "But I think there were other cases where the amount of tax credits was disproportionate to the amount of job creation and it wasn't the best investment."

Bialecki estimated that the tax breaks, which must be approved at the local level and by a state council, have cost an average total of $25 million a year in lost state revenue in the past few years, and hundreds of millions since it began.

But the state has not kept an exact tally and no one has tracked the value of the local tax breaks that are part of the package.

Tiny projects also have been singled out for subsidies, such as at a pizzeria in Ware, a liquor store in Plymouth, and a hair salon in New Bedford.

"It's one thing to use this program to attract a state-of-the-art pharmaceutical facility," said Michael Widmer, president of the nonprofit Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation. "It's quite another to reward pizza parlors and hair salons."

Bialecki said that starting this month, the state will exercise more discretion in deciding whether to piggyback state investment tax credits onto local tax breaks.

Under the original legislation creating the program, companies automatically received a 5 percent tax credit when the state approved the applications. But under the new law, the state can kick in anywhere from a 0 to 10 percent credit.

"It's going to be a very positive development," Bialecki said.

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Information from: The Boston Globe, http://www.boston.com/globe