I imagine most all of us realized that Governor Scott Walker’s promise to create 250,000 jobs in Wisconsin by the end of his four year term was a matter of campaign hyperbole. But thank you to all of those who are holding him to it and reminding all of us about his statement.
At first I wasn’t sure what was worse…his original statement…or his continued doubling down on it since then. Well I realized last night that it was the original statement that is the real issue…not just because it is a such pure campaign nonsense…but because neither Governor Walker or his staff ever really thought about what 250,000 jobs means in a state like Wisconsin.
Essentially no matter what his policies are and no matter if they would have worked exactly as he promised…creating 250,000 new jobs is essentially impossible…(and I believe I said this in a comment during the recall…but I don’t recall exactly when), it’s all in the MATH:
The US Census Bureau estimates the 2012 Population of the State of Wisconsin at 5,726,398. Out of that total, 23% are under the age of 18 – that is 1,317,071 residents of Wisconsin, and another 14.4% are over the age of 65 – that is 824,601. In most cases the members of these two groups aren’t looking for full time employment – they total 2,141,672 people. In other words we have approximately 3,584,726 adults available for full time employment (yes I know some people over 65 work full time, yes I know some under 18 work full time, and yes I know some adults between 18 and 65 can’t work for any variety of reasons…so don’t quibble).
News reports from earlier in August say that the unemployment rate for Wisconsin has remained steady at 6.8% for June and July 2013. So taking 6.8% of our 3,584,726 available population…there are only 243,761 Wisconsinites that need a job. Whoa…that’s not enough people to even fill 250,000 jobs!
Yes I realize I am being a bit facetious and a lot sarcastic…there are other things to consider…like the underemployed who need better jobs…and there will never be zero unemployment…and those who have dropped out of the ranks of unemployed because they stopped looking…but nobody in Gov Walker’s office or his campaign got out their calculators to suggest a reasonable number for his ‘goal’!
Just sayin’.
But it’s 250,000 over four years, including population growth and following an historic recession. Here’s the Center for Wisconsin Strategy’s calculation of the state’s jobs deficit.