Daily Stat: seven states surpassed WI in employment rates

Unemployment rates of seven states go from worse-to-better than WI in nine months

What do Alaska, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Montana, New Mexico, and Utah have in common?

They are all states that started out in 2011 with worse unemployment rates than Wisconsin, but have since bested our state's rate as of last month.

Wisconsin started out 2011 with an unemployment rate of 7.4 percent. August's unemployment numbers showed that we lost more jobs, and our rate of unemployment has actually climbed to 7.9 percent.

These seven states were struggling more than Wisconsin in January of 2011. Alaska's and Louisiana's rates were both 7.8 percent; Maine and Montana, 7.5 percent; Massachusetts, 8.3 percent; New Mexico, 8.7 percent; and Utah, 7.6 percent.

But unemployment in those states have all dipped, and Wisconsin's grown, since Gov. Scott Walker took office. Alaska went to 7.7 percent; Louisiana, 7.2 percent; Utah was at 7.6 percent (it saw no change); Massachusetts down to 7.4 percent; and New Mexico went down to 6.6 percent, a more than 2 percent drop. Maine and Montana both saw increases in their unemployment rate (7.6 percent and 7.8 percent, respectively), but the changes in their rates increased slower than Wisconsin's rate change.

That seven states have now surpassed Wisconsin in terms of unemployment should send a shock of reality to anyone believing that Walker's economic policies are working for Wisconsin. The sad truth is, they're not -- they're failing our state, failing our workers, and all while making Wisconsin less hospitable to families overall.

The seven states that have passed over Wisconsin since the start of January should make everyone in our state ashamed of our governor's failure to employ this state. Coincidentally, in case you were wondering...the number of states that Wisconsin has surpassed since January is a resounding zero.

And that's today's Daily Stat.

Number of states Wisconsin has done better than in unemployment numbers since January: zero.

(All unemployment data gathered from bls.gov.