Gov. Walker: Weekly radio address: jobs

Contact: Cullen Werwie, 608-267-7303

Madison—Today Governor Walker delivered the weekly radio address entitled “Jobs.”

Transcript below:

Creating jobs isn’t a partisan issue. Earlier this year, many Democrats joined Republicans and even an Independent – all voting for our jobs agenda. In fact, Democrats cast 467 votes in favor of the 44 pieces of legislation I signed into law so far this year.

This level of cooperation helped grab the attention of job creators. Wisconsin gained nearly 40,000 new jobs from January through the end of June – that was twice the rate of job growth at the national level.

During that same time-frame, nearly half of the new jobs were in manufacturing. In fact, manufacturing saw the largest six-month gain since 1994.

Unfortunately the debate over the federal debt crippled the national economy – and that slowed down our job growth here in July and August. That is why we have to work even harder on jobs here in Wisconsin.

While the national unemployment rate is much worse than our rate, there are still too many of our neighbors looking for work.

One spot to check is Wisconsin’s official jobs website, http://www.jobcenterofwisconsin.com. There are more than 30,000 job openings on the site. If you are looking for a job, know someone looking for a job, or are just interested in what is currently available, I encourage you to visit http://www.jobcenterofwisconsin.com or call 888-258-9966.

With so many jobs unfilled, I asked our Department of Workforce Development to connect job seekers with these available jobs. By the end of the month, new jobseekers receiving Unemployment Insurance benefits will be asked to create a resume and register on jobcenterofwisconsin.com .

The goal is to connect these jobseekers with open and available jobs quickly. By registering on jobcenterofwisconsin.com, they may also make their profile available to potential employers. The state can then also e-mail job opportunities directly to them.

A recent survey of businesses in our state showed that 88% believe Wisconsin is headed in the right direction. That is good news (particularly when you realize that only 10% thought we were headed in the right direction last year). A solid majority also said that they are about to add jobs in the next 12 months.

Still, many of these same job creators said one of their biggest challenges was finding skilled workers to fill their open positions. We are working to connect those seeking to be employed with the skills needed to fill open jobs.

Overall, Wisconsin has outperformed the national economy, but there is still a lot of work to be done. I am optimistic that by working together, we can get Wisconsin’s economy growing again.

The state has partnered with the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association to produce and distribute brief radio address once a week. Audio files and a written transcript of this radio address can be accessed on http://www.wi-broadcasters.org and http://walker.wi.gov/section.asp?linkid=1761&locid=177.