Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Latest quarterly jobs data for Q3-2013 no cause for celebration

Data shows Walker's predecessor's budget performed stronger on job creation

The latest Quarterly Survey of jobs came out today, and while an improvement from last year is noticeable, the Scott Walker administration shouldn’t be patting itself on the back quite yet.

Wisconsin gained 28,351 private sector jobs from September 2012 to September 2013. During that same time period one year earlier, the state saw a dismal 23,479 jobs created.

The nearly 5,000 job increase represents a 20 percent year-to-year improvement. Yet when compared to third quarter job gains in 2011, it’s a much, much different story.

From September 2010 to September 2011, Wisconsin gained 41,461 private sector jobs. This shows that while there was an improvement from this year to last, the overall improvement since Walker took office...doesn’t really exist. In fact, our job growth has slowed under his watch.

What was different about the third quarter job numbers from last year and the year 2011? While many aspects of job creation should be taken into account, one notable aspect sticks out: the September 2010 to September 2011 job numbers occurred at a time when a Democratic budget was still primarily in play.


From third quarter 2010-2011, former Gov. Jim Doyle’s budget was still the law, being implemented during the last three months of 2010 and the first six months of Gov. Scott Walker’s term in office. The last three months of that time period were the first three months of Walker’s budget.

So, to recap: nine months of a Democratic budget produced a yearlong total of over 40,000 jobs.

Two years of a Scott Walker budget produced two years of job numbers that averaged about 25,000 jobs per year, or 15,000 less on average than the previous budget.

Yet, we’re led to believe that Scott Walker is a “success,” and the Doyle administration was a “failure?” It seems the governor should reverse that assessment, then look for ways to reverse the failing trend of slowed job growth in the state, if he wants to keep his job.

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