Latest job numbers show Walker's policies are slowing us down

Second quarter 2013's numbers demonstrate a 40 percent slowdown compared to Doyle

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The finer points:

• Latest job numbers show WI produced less than 2,000 jobs per month
• Comparing Walker's job numbers (to former Gov. Jim Doyle's) demonstrates a dramatic shift and a slower pace in job creation

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Wisconsin’s latest quarterly employment data was recently released, and the results aren’t good.

For the second quarter of this year (PDF), the state saw a yearly growth (from June 2012 to June 2013) of 23,968 jobs, or less than two thousand jobs created per month.

While growth of any kind is good, the numbers represent a painful slowdown for the state. For comparison, Wisconsin saw 37,959 jobs in the previous year (June 2011 to June 2012) and 39,909 jobs in the year before that (June 2010 to June 2011).

That 39,909 jobs number from June 2010 to 2011 comes from the last year of Gov. Jim Doyle’s final budget. Comparing Gov. Doyle’s totals to current Gov. Scott Walker’s current year numbers, we see a 39.9 percent slower job growth comparison.

In other words, Gov. Walker’s job performance is performing at three-fifths the pace compared to numbers we saw during the last year of Jim Doyle’s final budget.

Here’s another way to compare: let’s pretend job numbers are similar to driving on the interstate highway system. If Gov. Doyle was driving on the Marquette Interchange in Milwaukee at 65 MPH, Walker would be driving 39 MPH.

It’s disappointing to say the least that this slowdown is occurring. What’s more troubling, however, is that Walker’s supporters continue to believe that his policies are “working.” They are not, and it’s time the people of Wisconsin start realizing the truth.