James Rowen
Op-Ed

Walker Has Failed to Create Jobs

State has suffered nearly six years of below-average job growth.

By - Nov 22nd, 2016 04:45 pm
Gov. Scott Walker. Photo from the State of Wisconsin.

Gov. Scott Walker. Photo from the State of Wisconsin.

I know we live in a truth-free culture where fake “news” may have tipped the Presidential election, but I want to pass along the reality that new federal job creation estimates based on the science of sampling show failed private sector job creation during Scott Walker‘s almost six years as Wisconsin Governor.

The data at the heart of the story:

When Gov. Scott Walker began his term in January 2011, he vowed to create 250,000 new private-sector jobs before the end of his first term. Since that time, private-sector jobs have increased by 198,700, representing a 8.2 percent increase.

Nationally, private-sector jobs have increased by 12.2 percent since January 2011.

*  The means that the rate of job growth during Walker’s tenure is substantially higher nationally than it is in Wisconsin.

*  And it means that Walker’s signature 2010 and 2012 promises to create 250,000 new private sector jobs in four years is more than 50,000 jobs, or 20 percent short, even with nearly six years to deliver what he promised in four.

Helluva a way to position one’s self for a third term – – or to reach even higher for a US Senate seat – –  but Walker will do either funded with millions in hard-right corporate and ideological-supplied campaign money while tweeting to the world and and inveighing at by-invitation-only events about “Jim Doyle…Obamacare…drug tests for food stamps…I love Paul Ryan…ham and cheese…Go Pack!”

Year-over-year pvt. Job growth.

Year-over-year pvt. Job growth.

This link provides a closer look at the data and Walker’s Workforce Department news releases posted on Jake’s Economic TA Funhouse blog:

Not only is that job growth much less than originally reported, but the 1.04 percent quarter-end private sector job growth is the lowest since Walker took office in January 2011, and the lowest in any 12-month period since April 2013 (a weather-related fluke).

The 1.04 percent growth is well below the national rate of 1.92 percent in that time period, and we’ll see in three weeks how far down this puts Wisconsin when compared to rest of the U.S. and the Midwest. Given how far behind we are from the national rate, I’m thinking Wisconsin is very likely to be in at least the bottom 20 for the rate of national job growth for the 20th straight quarter during the Age of Fitzwalkerstan, and could well be bottom ten.

Categories: Op-Ed, Politics

18 thoughts on “Op-Ed: Walker Has Failed to Create Jobs”

  1. wisconsin conservative digest says:

    Under Doyle we lost 130,000 jobs, in 8 years, due to hie redistributionist policy.
    Turning that around means we are way ahead of what Doyle did.
    The obama redistributive polices have held jobs down and it take time to turn a battleship around.

  2. myfivecents says:

    So, how many of those 130,000 jobs were lost due to the great recession between 2007 and 2009. Hundreds of people were being kicked out of their jobs monthly in 2009 alone. I know because I was one of them.

  3. Just facts says:

    If you compared the jobs numbers under Doyle to the nations jobs numbers at the same time,you would see that Wisconsin fared better than most of the country during the great recession.

  4. Jake formerly of the LP says:

    WCD- NO you senile piece of suburb trash, NO. You do not get to throw that weak sauce on this post and forget about Bush’s economic meltdown. In fact, Wisconsin survived the Great Recession better than most under Doyle, as we never reached the 10% unemployment that the rest of the nation (and especially the Midwest) did.

    And look at the chart, Dumb Dohnal. See how high up we were in early 2011? That’s what Walker INHERITED. Then look at how that job growth has stagnated and now dropped off as more Walker/WisGOP policies have taken effect. At the same time, US job growth went up well above these rates at the same time (Thanks Obama!)

    OWN THE FAILURE, old man.

  5. WashCoRepub says:

    I’m taking this spate of random, left-wing press releases on various subjects as sort of a form of group therapy. It’s like social service, letting them work out their frustration and anger at the election results in public. It’s probably best to be sympathetic, nod along for a bit, let them get the tantrums out.

  6. Tantrum says:

    Yes, WCR, bow to your tea party masters as they rob the state blind, defund parks and schools, destroy environmental regulations, and set the table for further Koch influence. At least future generations will have plenty of jobs cleaning up the mess created when Citizens United opened the door to buying elections for puppets like Walker. This goes for both parties, too. The right just throws a little extra salt in the wounds by axing union rights and pushing socially regressive policies. I’m glad I moved, but I’m ashamed of how my home state has melted down over the last 6 years.

  7. wisconsin conservative digest says:

    I love to hear all Lefties whine. The only place you control anymore, all rejected by the voters, is the disaster called Milwaukee. The epitome of badly run cities, worst in the country: “National Disaster” for schools..

    Whine, whine, whine.

  8. Tantrum says:

    Haha. The battle cry of a right-winger – those big scary cities with their dark skin and progressive ideals are taking all my tax dollars and ruining my Christian ideals. Let’s elect a corrupt governor to defund social programs and then complain about how desperate a place it is. The archaic tea-party values will dwindle with the baby boomer generation. Enjoy grabbing as much as you can while it lasts, and try not to completely destroy the planet in the process. If you have kids, I would consider the monstrosity you’ll be dumping in their lap…

  9. wisconsin conservative digest says:

    Strange, the voters have just okayed his efforts, and the legislatures, with their votes, wiped out the Left in Wis.

  10. myfivecents says:

    WCD: In gerrymandered districts no less. They could not lose even if they put up a loser for the seat.

  11. Tantrum says:

    Gerrymandering that has also drawn the attention of three federal judges.

  12. wisconsin conservative digest says:

    Gerrymandered: Trump, Walker, Johnson??? What a dope.

  13. myfivecents says:

    WCD: NO, stupid, not statewide races. Those are being won via election fraud, voter suppression, and voter disenfranchisement. You were talking about district races in gerrymandered districts.

  14. Tantrum says:

    Trump is a response from the struggling working class in WI. They are between a rock and a hard place with manufacturing jobs drying up, but the hope that those return is a pipe-dream. Just as they flipped from Obama to Trump, they’ll be willing to change again when Trump fails to deliver on impossible promises. To be honest, that’s not even a partisan issue as far as I’m concerned. There’s a large generational contingent that is in a terrible place in terms of job prospects. The U.S. can’t refuse to accept globalization, but the hope for educating that many people to catch them up with the current job market is impossible.

  15. wisconsin conservative digest says:

    Did we ruin your Thanksgiving and Christmas. Celebrate it with Hillary and Doyle. You have to buy the turkey.

  16. wisconsin conservative digest says:

    Russ, Baldwin and co left the working class for the nutty left long time go. How will you get it back, you do not have any policies.

  17. myfivecents says:

    WCD: Wrong again. Jobs began going overseas in the 80’s. Russ and Tammy were not even working in the Federal Government then. Bush Sr. crammed NAFTA down everybody’s throats before he left office. Both Russ and Tammy are against the TPP, but Johnson is all gungho for it. More jobs will disappear when that is passed. You are trying to blame the wrong people.

  18. JR says:

    “He’s not doing a great job,” Trump said of Walker, “But your governor has convinced you (Wisconsin) doesn’t have problems.”

    “He grew up right next door (to Iowa). A little advantage, right?” Trump said. “Except Wisconsin is doing terribly.”

    You have to hand it to the Donald, sometimes he gets things right. Reminds me of an old adage: Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while.

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