WisGOP, corporates make Milwaukee Number 1! For job loss

In case you wonder why Governor Walker and his allies are constantly going around the state giving “happy talk” about the state’s economy (with paid right-wing hacks writing debunked and dishonest columns to out-of-state audiences), it’s because they’re trying to convince people into thinking things are fine in Wisconsin ahead of the 2018 elections.

The reality they are running from is saying something very different, especially in the state’s largest metropolitan area (where nearly 30% of the state’s jobs are). The Bureau of Labor Statistics came out today with their report on local area employment and unemployment for April 2017, and it included this brutal paragraph.

The largest over-the-year decrease in employment occurred in Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, Wis. (-4,700), followed by Rochester, N.Y. (-4,500), and Houma-Thibodaux, La. (-4,400). The largest over-the-year percentage decrease in employment occurred in Casper, Wyo. (-6.1 percent), followed by Houma-Thibodaux, La. (-4.9 percent), and Sioux City, Iowa-Neb.-S.D. (-2.9 percent).

We’re Number 1! We’re Number 1! The Milwaukee metro also lost the 2nd highest percentage of jobs out of the top 51 metros in America (0.5%, only Rochester lost a higher rate). I’m sure Governor Walker will be touting this as much as he touts the high rankings from Chief Executive Magazine.

And if “last in the nation for job growth” doesn’t convince you the Milwaukee metro has the worst corporate culture in America, let me note that the oligarchs at the MMAC have said “we love what the GOPs in Madison have done for us!,” and is encouraging the state to continue on this path by backing Dale Kooyenga’s stupid plans to cut taxes and wages further.

I mentioned last week how the Milwaukee Metropolitan area has been way behind Madison when it comes to job and population growth over the last 6 years. But it’s also noteworthy to look at the report and see how for behind Milwaukee is vs other mid-sized Midwestern metros in today's report from the BLS.

Change in jobs, metro areas, April 2016-April 2017
Detroit +38,100 (1.9%)
Minneapolis-St. Paul +29,200 (+1.5%)
Columbus, Ohio 22,700 (+2.2%)
Indianapolis +18,400 (+1.8%)
Cincinnati +17,900 (+1.7%)
Grand Rapids +11,900 (+2.2%)
Des Moines +10,400 (+2.9%)
Cleveland +10,300 (+1.0%)
Madison +5,100 (+1.3%)
Milwaukee -4,700 (-0.5%)

How can you look at these and numbers and find the decline in Milwaukee remotely acceptable? Even the “Illinois cesspool” of Chicago (+13,800) has added jobs over the last year, and we keep hearing from Walker and Wisconsin business leaders what a mess that city and state is. So how bad must that make Wisconsin’s largest metro area?

Combine this “last in the nation” status for the Milwaukee metro with last Friday’s news dump showing that Wisconsin’s job growth declined by 70% in 2016, and the news from 2 weeks ago that had Wisconsin dead last in the nation (again) for business startup activity. .



These stats lead to an obvious conclusion- WHAT WE ARE DOING IS IN WISCONSIN NOT WORKING. And it won’t change as long as the current puppets politicians are in power in the Capitol, both in the Governor’s Office, and in the Legislature.

You would never accept the Brewers or Packers being this far behind the competition, and continuing in the wrong direction. So why do we accept it from our corporately-run Wisconsin government?