A new commercial by the Greater Wisconsin Political Fund highlights that newly released independent statistics continue to show that Wisconsin ranks dead last in the country in job creation.
The data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday demonstrate that Wisconsin is still losing more jobs than any other state. While 43 states gained jobs in the past year (including all of the other Midwestern states), Wisconsin lost 21.400 jobs from April 2011-April 2012. Wisconsin’s job losses were almost five times more than the 49th place state (Rhode Island). In addition, the data show that the job losses are continuing as Wisconsin shed 6200 private sector jobs and 5900 total jobs in April.
“Despite Scott Walker’s desperate PR attempt to produce his own job numbers, independent statistics still show that Wisconsin remains dead last in job creation and we are still losing jobs,” stated Michelle McGrorty, executive director of the Greater Wisconsin Political Fund.
“Walker’s policies of slashing funding for education and job training while handing out billions in corporate tax breaks clearly isn’t working for the people of Wisconsin. Maybe the tax giveaways have helped Walker raise campaign cash, but they haven’t created jobs.”
The numbers Walker released last week have not been verified by the independent Bureau of Labor Statistics and do not account for the more recent job losses in 2012. Walker’s own data is also not comparable to that of other states so it is impossible to determine how Wisconsin ranks versus other states. In contrast, the more recent Bureau of Labor Statistics data compares all states using the same methodology and accounts for job losses through April 2012.