Nope, not working. Wisconsin dead last in income growth

Another economic report out today illustrating the failures of Scott Walker. This time it's the Bureau of Economic Analysis' report on personal income, which features both full-year 2011 stats, as well as the 4th Quarter stats. And much like we've seen with the unemployment reports, Wisconsin gets its name mentioned...and not in a good way.

State personal income averaged 0.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011, the same as in the third quarter. Growth ranged from 0.5 percent in Wisconsin to 1.5 percent in North Dakota.

In other words, Wisconsin was DEAD LAST for income growth in the U.S. from October-December 2011. 50 out of 50.

Table 10 of that same report shows that Wisconsin was also dead last in the U.S. for increased earnings by employees in the 4th Quarter of 2011, at 0.79% increase in wages, supplements, and self-employed income. This puts Wisconsin well behind its Midwestern peers for the same time period.

Increase in earnings, 4th Quarter 2011
Iowa 1.28%
Mich 1.20%
Minn 1.05%
Ill. 0.99%
Ind. 0.96%
Ohio 0.96%
Wis. 0.79%

The state does better on the year-long report, which the Milwaukee Business Journal dutifully reports (while ignoring the "50th out of 50" status for 4Q). Wisconsin had a year-over-year increase in personal income of 5.2%, slightly above the 5.1% for the U.S. in the same time period (albeit below our neighbors in Iowa, Michigan, and Illinois, and just ahead of Minnesota's 5.1%). But even that number shows the damage of Walker policies, as state income grew by 2.3% in the first 3 months of 2011, and then only grew 2.2% for the rest of the year, after the passage of Act 10. Wisconsin also slipped from 24th to 25th on per-capita income, getting passed by Iowa and staying nearly 10% behind Illinois and Minnesota.

We'll see if the media picks up on this new piece of evidence offering further proof that Wisconsin continues to slip economically under Scott Walker, and that any "turnaround" is from the disaster THAT WALKER AND WisGOP CREATED IN THE FIRST PLACE! But if they fail to do their duty, well, that's why people like me are here.