Jobs Promise Wasn’t Plausible

It’s about time someone else has published this. I shouldn’t have been the only one saying it (emphasis added):

During Walker’s first three years in office, Wisconsin added 91,813 private sector jobs. In his 2010 campaign, Walker famously pledged 250,000 new private-sector jobs in his first term. It should have been clear at the time that target was implausible. Meeting it required averaging 62,500 new jobs a year. That’s 23,000 more than the best single year of private-sector job growth during predecessor Jim Doyle’s two terms. The upside of making an audacious campaign promise is that it’s a commanding way to deliver a political message. The downside is that there’s a pretty good chance you won’t fulfill it. The first three-quarters of his term brought Walker 37% of the way there. Instead of 250,000 new private-sector jobs, the state is on pace for less than half that many in Walker’s first term.

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6 thoughts on “Jobs Promise Wasn’t Plausible

  1. I won’t concede it was implausible; we’ll never know what could have been done had Walker devoted as much energy, resources and priority as he did to his conservative agenda; e.g., ACT10, WEDC,etc.

    Wisconsin’s or I should say Walker’s job standing is mediocre compared to other mid west states and nationally. If they could succeed in job growth, it’s plausible that 250,000 or slightly less was possible.

  2. Duane12 – to fill it he would have to employ every single unemployed person in WI and then some. We have never had zero unemployment.

  3. Of course, zero unemployment is impossible for Wisconsin, but I assumed many would or could be “imports” from other states for these new jobs. My neighbor took a 3 year contract as a truck driver in N.D. coming home on weekends.

    Perhaps the figure of 25,000 was too high, and I concede that number is implausible without substantial influx from other states. It would be interesting to see the math and if there was some real research or reliable source or if Walker through a dart on a guessing board.

  4. Based on the math, if we had merely kept up with the U.S. growth rate since Walker took office, we’d be at 162,000 private sector jobs. We’re not even 2/3 of the way there.

    Walker was probably throwing a figure out of his backside, but it wasn’t as crazy a number as you’d think. Which makes the failure all the more stunning.

  5. What I want to know is this: Of the 91,813 jobs that have allegedly been created, how many pay a living wage or have benefits such as insurance, sick leave, paid vacations? My guess is that the vast majority of the jobs include the worker asking the musical question “would you like fries with that?” Is anyone asking the question about the QUALITY of these jobs?

  6. It also seems that Wisconsin frequently makes the list of plant closings or consolidations along with several other states.

    http://www.margieburns.com/2011/10/u-s-plant-closings-continue-in-september-october/

    In my small rural community, a long-time cheese plant was closed or consolidated last year with a significant loss of local jobs.

    http://www.weau.com/home/headlines/Foremost-Farms-to-close-local-plant-204903211.html

    Where was Walker with his 250,000, plausible or implausible, new jobs for my friends and neighbors?

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