[img_assist|nid=370992|title=|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=300|height=199]A few days ago, Lt. Governor Rebecca Kleefisch complained that reaching 250,000 jobs in Walker's first term was a "really tough to achieve goal," but what she should have said is that it's really tough for us to achieve.
An extensive analysis by the Business Journal, shows that during Walker's time in office, his annual job growth rate or 1.07% ranks 40th in the nation. The national average over Walker's time in office has been 2.00% and if Walker had simply kept up with the national average, Wisconsin would have 51,200 more jobs than we do today.
Walker often derides democratic governors in other states, saying "they chose one path and we chose another," but every Democratic governor in the country ranks ahead of Walker in job growth. In fact, if Walker had the same job growth rate as Colorado's Democratic Governor, John Hickenlooper, or California's Jerry Brown, Wisconsin would be right on pace to hit his 250K jobs goal.
Here's the ranking:
- 1. Jack Dalrymple (R-North Dakota)
- 2. Rick Perry (R-Texas)
- 3. Gary Herbert (R-Utah)
- 4. Bill Haslam (R-Tennessee)
- 5. Bobby Jindal (R-Louisiana)
- 6. John Hickenlooper (D-Colorado)
- 7. (tie) Nathan Deal (R-Georgia)
- 7. (tie) Deval Patrick (D-Massachusetts)
- 9. Rick Snyder (R-Michigan)
- 10. Jerry Brown (D-California)
- 11. Dave Heineman (R-Nebraska)
- 12. Rick Scott (R-Florida)
- 13. Dennis Daugaard (R-South Dakota)
- 14. Phil Bryant (R-Mississippi)
- 15. Mark Dayton (D-Minnesota)
- 16. Sean Parnell (R-Alaska)
- 17. Martin O'Malley (D-Maryland)
- 18. Andrew Cuomo (D-New York)
- 19. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii)
- 20. John Kitzhaber (D-Oregon)
- 21. Mary Fallin (R-Oklahoma)
- 22. Steve Beshear (D-Kentucky)
- 23. Mike Beebe (D-Arkansas)
- 24. Butch Otter (R-Idaho)
- 25. Sam Brownback (R-Kansas)
- 26. John Kasich (R-Ohio)
- 27. Brian Sandoval (R-Nevada)
- 28. Terry Branstad (R-Iowa)
- 29. Jan Brewer (R-Arizona)
- 30. Pat Quinn (D-Illinois)
- 31. Bob McDonnell (R-Virginia)
- 32. Jack Markell (D-Delaware)
- 33. Peter Shumlin (D-Vermont)
- 34. Nikki Haley (R-South Carolina)
- 35. Chris Christie (R-New Jersey)
- 36. (tie) Robert Bentley (R-Alabama)
- 36. (tie) Earl Ray Tomblin (D-West Virginia)
- 38. Dan Malloy (D-Connecticut)
- 39. Jay Nixon (D-Missouri)
- 40. Scott Walker (R-Wisconsin)
- 41. Tom Corbett (R-Pennsylvania)
- 42. Lincoln Chafee (I-Rhode Island)
- 43. (tie) Paul LePage (R-Maine)
- 43. (tie) Susana Martinez (R-New Mexico)
- 45. Matthew Mead (R-Wyoming)
- NR. Steve Bullock (D-Montana)
- NR. Maggie Hassan (D-New Hampshire)
- NR. Jay Inslee (D-Washington)
- NR. Pat McCrory (R-North Carolina)
- NR. Mike Pence (R-Indiana)