The J-S won't tell you, so I will- Wisconsin stays dead last for jobs

I know this has been a common theme for the last several months, but I wanted to give an update on the latest stats (hey, some of you are new here :P). The BLS' monthly state-by-state jobs report came out last month, and yet again, Wisconsin was Number 1...for most jobs lost. And it's quite telling since April 2011 was the first month after Act 10 was passed, and the month that Wisconsin employment started dropping under Scott Walker.

Most job loss by state, Apr 2011- Apr 2012
Wisconsin -21,400
Rhode Is. -4,300
New Hamp. -3,700
Conne'tc't -2,300
Mis'is'ippi -1,800
Montana -1,300

Most private sector jobs losses by state, Apr 2011- Apr 2012
Wisconsin -11,100
Arkansas -4,600
Rhode Is. -3,400
New Hamp. -2,700
Mis'is'ippi -2,700

And none of the states in the negative are places big enough to have one major league sports franchise, making this even worse. In fact, the only thing keeping Wisconsin from reaching the trifecta with highest % of job losses over the last 12 months are these guys:

Highest % of total jobs lost, Apr 2011- Apr 2012
Rhode Is. -0.93%
Wisconsin -0.78%
New Hamp. -0.59%
Montana -0.30%
Mis'is'ippi -0.16%

So where's this update in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. NOWHERE, other than misleading "false equivalency" crap about how "Governor's candidates battle over jobs numbers." There no battle, WE ARE LAST, and that's not a debatable stat if you're using federal, "apples to apples" data. But what the J-S does promote is Walker's magic, unvetted jobs increase in a pathetic MMAC-demanded editorial this morning. This bilge of an editorial makes me ill just looking at it, but I'll give you a little taste of what the corporate slime at the J-S editorial board are trying to serve up.

Of course it was politically motivated. What else could it be? But that doesn't mean that new statistics on jobs released this week by Gov. Scott Walker are not credible.

Assuming the federal government agrees, the statistics show Wisconsin gained jobs during Walker's first year in office. That's good news for Wisconsin families. And of course it's good news for the Walker administration, which, not surprisingly, took the highly unusual step Tuesday of rushing the numbers to the voting public. The numbers weren't expected to be released until June 28, three weeks after the recall election....

The fact that a reliable source says Wisconsin created jobs - instead of losing them - in 2011 is good news. The quarterly census is considered reliable because states gather the data from almost all their employers in both the public and private sectors. (Ed. Note: Stop right there. Why does the J-S consider anything this Administration says to be fromv "a reliable source," especially when no one else has seen or confirmed these numbers? A HS journalism student wouldn't be allowed to uncritically accept data like this, let alone the state's largest newspaper.) The Current Employment Survey, by contrast, is a survey of 3.5% of employers and is sometimes subject to sharp revisions. In fact, the quarterly report is used to benchmark and clean up the monthly reports. And, as Walker has noted, preliminary data showed that the state's unemployment rate ticked down to 6.7% in April from 6.8% in March, the lowest since 2008.

But the quarterly report numbers have not been reviewed for accuracy by the federal government, and it's impossible to compare Wisconsin's performance in the quarterly report with other states since the Walker administration released them early. (So why are you giving them any credit at all when it may be bullshit or massively lagging other states? Because J-S editorial staff has been told they have to do this.)

Walker's policies may encourage development over time (though it hasn't for over a year), but business owners and executives across the state will hire only if they can justify the expense of another worker (or if people want to buy their product, which is hard to do with lower wages) . If more of that was happening last year than previously thought, that's a good thing (even though Walker's souped-up numbers would still suck!) . But voters would be wise not to give very much credence to the job creation claims of either Walker or Democratic opponent Tom Barrett.

If that last line isn't the epitome of D.C. Villager-style "false equivalence," nothing is. It's not just the Barrett people making this claim, it's the pros in D.C. at the Bureau of Labor Statistics. I'll use my judgment to trust them over hacks like Gov. Dropout and Reggie ("You'll say Jobs are Created or I'll get my 4th DWD Secretary") Newson any day. Why the J-S refuses to do the same tells you who's paying their bills.

And speaking of the BLS report, let's go back to it one more time. Another trend that continues in their report. is Wisconsin's huge lag behind our Midwestern neighbors. First I'll give you a chart that shows the other Midwestern states vs. us, and then I'll follow with a chart that puts it in percentage terms since Walker and WisGOP took office in January 2011.

Change in jobs, Midwestern states, Apr 2011- Apr 2012
Mich +59,300 (+1.51%)
Ind. +54,200 (+1.91%)
Ohio +47,200 (+0.93%)
Ill. +28,000 (+0.49%)
Minn +23,300 (+0.87%)
Iowa +18,100 (+1.22%)
Wis. -21,400 (-0.78%)

And now the chart going back to the start of Fitzwalkerstan in January 2011. Check out how Wisconsin fell off right after Act 10 was passed in Spring 2011, and stayed in the doldrums ever since. By the way 100= the January 2011 amount of jobs for each state.

So no matter how the J-S wants to spin and obfuscate, the numbers from the BLS that everyone else uses tells the truth- Wisconsin is bringing up the rear when it comes to creating jobs over the last 15 months, and the clear reason why is Scott Walker and the policies of the Wisconsin GOP. Because while the U.S. and the Midwest have all had to climb their way out of the Bush recession of the late 2000s, only one state has had that progress halted like Wisconsin.

You'd fire any CEO that had such a disastrous record after taking over a place that was holding its own (as Wisconsin did under Jim Doyle). Why wouldn't you do the same to Scott Walker on June 5?