The most recent private sector job growth statistics released Thursday showed Wisconsin dropped one place to 34th in the country in private sector job growth, and drew mixed responses from Gov. Scott Walker and state legislators.
The data comes from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’s Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages and covers a one-year span between March 2012 and March 2013.
Wisconsin added 24,305 private sector jobs, according to the report, and had increased the rate of employment by 1.1 percent. The percentage in increased employment falls almost an entire percentage point lower than the national average of 2 percent.
Private sector job growth has been a prominent issue in the state after Walker promised to create 250,000 new private sector jobs during his term as governor. So far the governor has fallen short of that goal, drawing the ire of state Democrats.
State Senate Minority Leader Chris Larson, D-Milwaukee, and state Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca, D-Kenosha, both criticized the governor for what they said was his role in the lower half ranking, in statements Thursday.
Larson said in the statement the recent numbers represent “Wisconsin’s continued economic recovery breakdown.”
“We can’t continue driving down this same road,” Larson said in the statement. “We owe it to Wisconsin families to try a different route.
Walker relied on different data in a press release, saying the economy is in fact moving in a positive direction. He said Thursday’s data fails to include the summer months, which were “Wisconsin’s [best] in 23 years.”
