During the recall of 2012, the Bureau of Labor Statitics (BLS) monthly numbers showed that during Governor Scott Walker's first year in office, Wisconsin lost jobs. To rebut the monthly BLS jobs numbers, Walker caused controversy by doing an early release of quarterly BLS numbers, which showed Wisconsin gained jobs in his first year.
Walker said at the time that the quarterly BLS numbers were the "most accurate" and the "gold standard," while the monthly BLS numbers were "not an accurate job count" and "unreliable."
So everyone was a bit surprised a few weeks ago, when Walker went on the air refuting Mary Burke's contention that Wisconsin was last in the midwest in job growth using the monthly BLS numbers he once ridiculed. He said that in the past year, the monthly BLS numbers showed Wisconsin was actually third in the midwest and above the midwest average, and said this was evidence of Wisconsin's "comeback."
Walker should have listened to his advice and stayed away from those "unreliable" monthly BLS numbers: Yesterday the "gold standard" quarterly BLS numbers came out and confirmed Burke's contention that Wisconsin was dead last in jobs since Walker took office. And today, the latest monthly BLS numbers are out and show Wisconsin is in a three way tie for fourth place and below the midwest average.
I'd stick with the gold standard, gov.
