Despite "bright" Walker spin, Wisconsin keeps losing jobs

In 2010s Wisconsin, it’s pretty easy to figure out the news behind theWisGOP spin. Just look and see what the Walker Administration’s agency leads with, and more importantly doesn’t lead with, and you can figure out the real story pretty quickly.

A great example is today’s Wisconsin’s jobs report for November 2016. Note the lead from Scott Walker’s Department of Workforce Development.

The Department of Workforce Development (DWD) today released the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) revisions for October and preliminary estimates for November covering employment and job statistics for the state of Wisconsin. In brief, the seasonally adjusted estimates show:

·Place of residence data: Employment in Wisconsin reached an all-time high in November with 3,009,600 people working, while unemployment is at its lowest since 2001. A preliminary seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 4.1 percent in November 2016, unchanged from October and at its lowest rate since February 2001. The rate remains lower than the national unemployment rate of 4.6 percent in November 2016. Wisconsin's labor force participation rate also remained unchanged at 68.4 percent and continues to outpace the U.S. rate which dropped to 62.7 percent in November.

·Place of work data: Based on preliminary data, the state added a statistically significant 30,400 total non-farm jobs and 25,300 private-sector jobs from November 2015 to November 2016, with a significant one-month gain of 5,100 jobs in Transportation, Warehousing and Utilities.

First of all, that Transportation, Warehousing and Utilities stat is a year-long gain, not a one-month difference (just a tip to those of you at DWD who might be reading and have the ability to edit the press release). But hurrah for $12 an hour Amazon warehouse jobs, I guess!

The bigger thing is what wasn’t mentioned in the Walker Administration’s release- the job change for the month of November. And here’s why.

Job Change, Wisconsin, November 2016
Private sector -5,200
Manufacturing -3,300
Total jobs -1,900

Which continues the stagnant/downward trend the state has seen for much of 2016.

Job Change, Wisconsin, since March 2016
Private sector –4,500
Manufacturing -3,600
Total jobs -2,700

Which is what makes these Tweets from today's GOPper-ganda event at Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce all the more bizarre.

Yes. That's @GovWalker wearing sunglasses. He says future of WI economy is so bright "you gotta wear shades" at WMC event. #WKOW pic.twitter.com/dDUzOpgC2R

— Greg Neumann (@gneumann_wkow) December 15, 2016

.@GovWalker tells @WisconsinMC attendees WI needs to do more branding and more bragging.

— Gwyn Guenther (@GwynGuenther) December 15, 2016

What in the living hell is Walker talking about? I know WMC and Walker live in a delusional Bubble World of trickle-down bullshit, but how can anyone look at the awful jobs stats from this year, combine it with WisGOP’s regressive social policy, crappy roads and disinvestment in public education, and think that’s going to make people want to come to a state that’s a flipping icebox for 4 months?

Now combine that reality along with the higher interest rates and rising oil prices, and what honest person would think that Wisconsin’s manufacturing-heavy economy is going to be better in the coming years?

Then again, maybe there's a double-meaning behind Walker's prediction for what happens in the Trump Administration.

Timbuk3 song quoted by @GovWalker about his optimism for economy's future is actually about a nuclear holocaust: https://t.co/BAtD8RQrqQ

— Scott Bauer (@sbauerAP) December 15, 2016

Nah, Scotty ain't that bright. So my other theory is that Governor Dropout downloaded the wrong ‘80s song as his theme for this speech. He probably meant to get this one.



The sad part is, it won’t get better as long as Walker and the rest of this regressive crew is in charge at the Capitol, that’s for damn sure.