Fitz alarmed that Tony Evers...might stop Wisconsin's job growth from being lousy?

Over the weekend, GOP Senate Leader Scott Fitzgerald went on Mike Gousha’s show to justify his party’s recent power grab. Fitzgerald claimed that a major reason why he and Assembly Speaker Robbin' Vos chose to do this (with a wink and nod from Governor Scott Walker) was to protect WisGOP economic policies that Evers has said he would like to change.

Fitzgerald also said he found the governor-elect’s rhetoric on the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. and some of its projects “alarming.”

Evers has said he wants to get rid of the WEDC and favors a 72-county approach to economic development under the old state Department of Commerce model.

“I’m more concerned about some of the aggressive tone and the posture he’s taken over the last couple of weeks specific to some things that really could derail the economy in Wisconsin,” Fitzgerald said.

“Derail the economy”??? What the hell is Fitz talking about? If you look at today’s full release of the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW), it’s pretty obvious that Wisconsin’s economy is already off-track.

We got a small hint of this with the topline figures that came out a couple of weeks ago, which showed Wisconsin 32nd in the nation for total job growth. That made for the 29th straight quarter Wisconsin was in the bottom half of the country for job growth - a streak that started in the same month that the WisGOP Legislature passed Scott Walker’s first budget into law in June 2011.

But the full report (and updated figures from the QCEW mapping site), makes Wisconsin fare even worse.

36th in the US for private sector job growth at 22,279. That’s a 0.90% growth rate, which is well below the 1.70% rate for the nation.

27th in the US for manufacturing job growth (+1.82%). In addition, the 8,604 jobs added over the last 12 months measured is nearly 9,000 LESS than the Walker Department of Workforce Development claimed back in July, and in fact, Wisconsin fell below the US manufacturing job growth rate of 1.87%.

31st in average wages for all jobs, at $904 a week.

Also 31st in average weekly private sector wage, at $899 a week.

35th in average weekly manufacturing wages, at $1,077 a week. That’s also the lowest wage in the Midwest, an “honor” Wisconsin has consistently earned over the last few years.

In addition, drawing those totals out to the last 7 years since Walker’s and WisGOP’s first budget went into effect, it becomes obvious how far Wisconsin has been left behind during the Age of Fitzwalkerstan. To start with, the state ranks 34th in the US for private sector job growth over that time period, and ends up 5th out of 7 Midwestern states.

In fact, we were adding jobs at a much faster rate when that first Walker/WisGOP budget was passed in June 2011 than we have at any time over the last 2 years. But hey, MAGA!

So what does Scott Fitzgerald find "alarming" about Tony Evers saying that we need a new direction for economic development? Is it the end of the WEDC slush fund for GOP candidates? An end to the tax cuts for corporations that haven't done anything to improve Wisconsin's economy, but has done plenty for the campaign funds of Republicans? Is it fear of Wisconsin workers actually making competitive wages and not having to beg oligarchs for any improvement in their work lives?

Wait a second....those are the items that Fitz, Vos and the rest of the ALEC Crew don't want to see "derailed." No wonder why they're trying to handcuff Evers from having an economy that works for the rest of us!