More money, more jobs in Wisconsin? Ehhh....

A couple of interesting reports got released in the last few days that I wanted to mention.

The first is the personal income by states report released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, and a couple of items stand out in this report.

1. Income growth dipped to 0.145% in the 3rd Quarter of 2011, reflecting the slow economy of the time, and Wisconsin right in line at 0.149%. The odd part about this is the small variance among all the states- everyone was between + 0.6% (Washington) and -0.4% (West Virginia), a 1.0% difference (the previous 4 quarters had a difference of at least 2.0% from high to low, if not 3-4%). The year-over-year numbers for both Wisconsin, our Midwestern neighbors and the U.S. reflect the slowdown in income. None of these numbers are adjusted for inflation, and I tried to bold up Wisconsin (in blue) and the U.S. (in purple). (click to make bigger)

Year-over-year income growth 2010-2011


Note that Wisconsin and most Midwestern states have generally stayed ahead of the U.S. in income growth, but that Wisconsin has reverted back to the U.S. average in the last 3 months, and Michigan Ohio and Indiana have dropped below the U.S. (all run by GOP Governors that are buddies of Scott Walker). Wisconsin was 2nd in our Midwestern group for income growth in 2010, but has fallen to middle of the pack in 2011, trailing Minnesota (Number 1 throughout for growth), and passed by Iowa and...Illinois. Yep, the same "high-tax" Illinois that Walker promised to steal jobs from when he took office. How's that working out for us?

The other interesting recent report is the add-on that goes with the monthly statewide jobs numbers from DWD, which is the metro area job report, with the individual metro areas broken down on Page 3. In addition to more DWD whining about October's revisions, the report has a few other items to offer.

The report shows that the Milwaukee metro area lost 4,700 jobs in November, accounting for nearly a third of the 14,600-job bomb that hit the state last month. The 4,700 jobs isn't that disproportionate, as the Milwaukee area's about 30% of the state's jobs in general, and the Milwaukee area is still up a decent 5,300 jobs over the last 12 months, which is more than the 4,500 jobs that have been added in the state in the same time.

Yes, you got that right, the rest of the state outside of the Milwaukee area has LOST jobs over the last 12 months. The biggest losers? Green Bay (2,200 jobs) and Racine (1,500 jobs). Green Bay was one of the biggest areas that swung to Walker in 2010, and Racine elected the soon-to-be-recalled Van Wangaard to the Senate, and lays claim to being the home of ALEC tool and Joint Finance Chair Robin Vos. You can hear the "Ruh-roh's" coming hard from the WisGOP offices on those realities, can't you?