Econ 101: Walker Doesn’t Understand The Meaning of Unemployment Numbers

In my post from this morning, What We Are Reading 08/15/2017, I tagged the Op Ed piece by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker extoling the virtues of the Foxconn deal. And of course the touted the ‘progress’ that Wisconsin has made under his administration and that Wisconsin is ready to do business. And he brought the Wisconsin unemployment number front and center in his editorial.

Foxconn is coming to our state is because we are ready. Once a bottom 10 state for business, Wisconsin is now in the top 10 states for business. Our 3.1% unemployment rate is better than the national average and the lowest since October 1999. We also have one of the best percentages of people working in the nation.

I don’t think a low unemployment rate is a selling point for any manufacturer much less one known for low wages. The last thing they want to do is compete with other industries in the area for qualified employees. That drives the cost of doing business up. I am sure that Foxconn would prefer to come into an environment where unemployment is higher…where they can hire the cream of the crop and get them for lower wages than they are entitled to. Once again our governor has no idea what he’s talking about.

Share:

Related Articles

4 thoughts on “Econ 101: Walker Doesn’t Understand The Meaning of Unemployment Numbers

  1. The low Wisconsin unemployment number does not just represent a higher cost for labor. Included in that figure is the reflection of the pro growth, pro business policies that continue to make Wisconsin the center of the country. By referring to the 3.1% level, the Governor underscores the wild success of his legislative economic policies. The subtlety of condensing all that good news into a single number could be missed, but it’s not that hard to explain.

  2. This is 3 billion dollars Wisconsin does not have. We do not know the name of the Payday Lender, but we do know the names of each person in this state who will pay for it.

    The legislature was fighting over maintaining the transportation budget at a minimal level before Foxconn. Each dollar of the 3 billion dollars spent on Foxconn is coming out of allocations for school children, parks, transportation, and infrastructure.

    With all the environmental damage allowed under this deal it will cost Wisconsin much more. When taken into consideration that with Foxconn getting a 3 billion dollar welfare check they become lazy. This is a bad deal. Wisconsin is Pie for Foxconn.

  3. The Democratic spin on all of this is enough to make your head hurt. For years all I’ve read every time an employment number comes out is, “Walker hasn’t created the 250,000 jobs he promised, the job market is terrible!” Now that the Foxconn deal has materialized, in the space of several months, we suddenly don’t have ENOUGH working age adults?? The job market is too tight now?? I’ll pop an Ibuprofen and try and keep up with the press releases, but man…

Comments are closed.