In the wake of Governor Walker’s state of the state speech and Representative Barca’s Democratic response, it’s hard to know what to believe about job creation or loss. In terms of the numbers, both sides are basically right. However, they don’t tell you the whole story.
The chart below tells us the following about the number of jobs in Wisconsin since January 2007:
- The recession took its toll here (as it did nationally) as job numbers fell by nearly 170,000 from January 2008 until August 2009.
- After changing little for about 16 months, job numbers rose by about 39,000 in the first half of 2011.
- Job numbers then reversed course and fell by about 36,000 in the second half of the year.
- For the entire year, job numbers were up about 3,000.
The real question is: Why do our job numbers look the way they do?. First, when it comes to job gains or losses in Wisconsin, the national economy has a much greater impact than state government policy. As we pointed out in the October Wisconsin Taxpayer, “job creation and loss here is more closely linked to the nation than in all but 12 states.” Governors and legislators can have an impact in the long run by changing the business “climate,” but those policies still dwarf the effects of the national economy.