Contact: Cullen Werwie, 608-267-7303
Six Months into the Year Wisconsin Has Gained Back Over a Quarter of the Jobs Lost During Recession
MADISON—Entering office, Governor Scott Walker set a goal of helping the state create 250,000 private sector jobs over the next four years. After over six months in office, the state is on pace to exceed the Governor’s goal, having created 39,300 private sector jobs.
“Wisconsin is on the right track,” said Governor Scott Walker. “Our state is a national leader in job creation, but there are still too many Wisconsinites looking for work. As the nation continues to struggle to create jobs, we remain focused on making the tough decisions to help lead the nation to an economic recovery that creates jobs.”
Between December 2007 and December 2010, Wisconsin lost over 153,600 private sector jobs. The state has netted over 39,000 new private sector jobs since the Governor called a special session to open Wisconsin for business. The state has seen 14,100 manufacturing jobs created since January.
Wisconsin’s job creation record is one of the strongest in the nation over the last six months. During this time period Wisconsin’s nonfarm job growth is more than twice the national average, 1.4 percent for the state versus .6 percent for the nation. The state’s private sector job growth is almost twice the national average: 1.7 percent for the state versus .9 percent for the nation. Wisconsin’s manufacturing job growth is more than twice the nation’s. Wisconsin’s manufacturing growth is 3.2 percent; the nation’s is 1.2 percent.
In June Wisconsin had a net job creation of 9,500 new jobs, including nearly 13,000 private sector jobs. The net job creation in the nation was only 18,000 jobs. Only four states created more private sector jobs than Wisconsin did in the last month.
“In light of the disappointing national numbers in June, Wisconsin’s job creation record was encouraging,” said Governor Walker. “We must also remember that the job figures can go up and down so we cannot rest after one month of good news.”
