Show Of Hands If Liking 35th Jobs Ranking…Yes, Gov. Walker?
Though GOP leaders said Wisconsin's economy would take off "like a rocket" after the recall elections went away, private-sector job growth in Wisconsin has only inched upward, from 37th to 35th place among the states during a recent 12-month period.
The figures released Wednesday are a key benchmark, picked by Gov. Scott Walker, to measure how well he is meeting his 2010 campaign promise to add 250,000 private sector jobs by the end of next year.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that for the 12-month period between September 2012 and September 2013, Wisconsin added just over 28,300 private sector jobs. The percentage increase of 1.2 percent puts Wisconsin 35th compared with all 50 states.
So the state is facing both an economic and political shortfall, as Wisconsin is far off the pace required mathematically to create the 250,000 new private-sector jobs that gubernatorial candidate Scott Walker promised repeatedly in 2010 and 2012 to achieve in a first term.
In percentage terms, our private-sector job growth during that 12-month period lags all neighboring states, except Illinois, the official data show.
So "Still Better Than Illinois" is available to Walker as a re-election bumper-sticker, though some might say that is over-stating the obvious.
1:30 p.m. update:
In fact, the data show Wisconsin lost manufacturing jobs during the period while gaining workers in the food service sector, the Journal Sentinel reports.
1:30 p.m. update:
In fact, the data show Wisconsin lost manufacturing jobs during the period while gaining workers in the food service sector, the Journal Sentinel reports.
Meaning there was an increase in wait-staff minimum wage jobs over family-supporting blue-collar work.
Hardly a prescription for success.
4 comments:
Remind me, what was our job ranking under Walker's predecessor? You know, the one who's job performance never gets mentioned in this blog. Is it better now or was it better before?
From the data you link to it appears that Illinois workers were making $150 more a week. It seems to me like there might be a bumper sticker there, too. Perhaps we will find it on the cars of the workers who have been leaving Wisconsin to seek their fortunes elsewhere:
Is Illinois worth and extra $600 a month? Yes, it is!
Roy at 6:55 -
Are you talking about Wisc job numbers before Bush destroyed the US economy or after? Looks to me like you're cherry-picking your numbers from the bad times and ignoring everything that came before.
Politifact (I hate to use them as a source, but ...) looked at Doyle's record on the jobs issue in response to Walker's claim that 133,000 jobs were lost in his second term. "Mostly false," they said. Of course we lost lots of jobs after Bush and the bankers wrecked the economy. But, said the article, "Wisconsin fared much better than many other states." Doyle's fault? Maybe. The governor's to blame for everything, unless you're Scott Walker, that is.
For a good summary of this, go here.
Better. Wisconsin was never below 30 in Doyle's last few years, and was as high as 11 right before Walker took over (when unemployment fell by 1.5% in 18 months under the Doyle-Dem budget).
Under Walker policies, we haven't been better than 30th in any full year since Act 10 was installed. Them's the numbers
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