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| WISCONSIN LOSES MORE JOBS, TWO MONTHS AHEAD OF THE RECALL ELECTION |
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WPR News - Wisconsin loses more jobs, two months ahead of the recall election
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Friday April 20, 2012
by Shawn Johnson
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(STATEWIDE) Wisconsin lost 4,500 jobs last month, including 4,300 jobs in the private sector. The numbers come less than two months before the recall election.
Every politician watches jobs numbers these days, but Gov. Scott Walker and his Democratic rivals are likely watching them closer than most. Walker's pledge to help the private sector create 250,000 jobs was the bedrock of his 2010 gubernatorial campaign. But the governor is well off that pace. Including Thursday's (4/19) preliminary numbers, the private sector has created just 5,900 jobs since Walker took office.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tom Barrett pounced on the new numbers at a state capitol news conference, noting that in the same month, the U.S. economy added jobs, "So again, we are seeing the direction of this state go in the wrong way as opposed to the direction of the nation. The nation gains jobs, Wisconsin loses jobs."
Barrett says the blame rests squarely with Walker.
The governor blamed the recalls. Speaking from a small business in Brookfield, Walker said job numbers would go up and down from month to month, "These are challenging times. A lot of talk about over the next couple of months about elections and TV ads and uncertainty that comes with that, but I believe firmly, after June 5th of this year, I think there's going to be a takeoff in terms of the number of jobs out there. Because I believe more than anything what employers want is certainty."
These days the governor highlights Wisconsin's unemployment rate, which at 6.8 percent is the lowest since 2008. But the Democratic group We are Wisconsin says Walker ran on creating jobs, and by that metric he's the worst governor in America.
The state is scheduled to release just one more set of jobs numbers before the June 5th recall election.
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