Governor Scott Walker’s most memorable campaign promise in 2010 was to create 250,000 jobs in his first term – which ended in January 2015. Had Wisconsin job growth simply maintained pace with the national average, that milepost would be far in the rearview mirror, but new jobs numbers released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics this week show Wisconsin continues to lag in private sector job growth and is still well short of that goal.
From June 2015 to June 2016, Wisconsin added 25,105 private sector jobs, ranking 31st in the nation for an anemic growth rate of one percent, half the national average.
Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca, D-Kenosha, said the figures show the state “continues to fail on jobs” under GOP leadership.
“We simply must do better,” said Barca. “Wisconsin ought to be a top-ten economy but Republicans have been far more focused on rigging our political system to keep themselves in power rather than growing jobs.”
GOP officials like Ray Allen, Secretary of the WI Dept. of Workforce Development, toed the line and repeated familiar Scott Walker talking points.
“Our economy is growing, and with a lower unemployment rate and higher labor force participation rate than the nation, we will continue helping anyone who wants a job, find a job,” said Allen.
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