Governor, DWD hid evidence of losses during last half of 2011
There is some great analysis over a couple of spreadsheets obtained by the blog site Badger Democracy from the Department of Workforce Development.Apparently -- and this is a shocker, I know -- Walker lied about those job numbers he kept saying would vindicate his first year in office.
The numbers Wisconsin DWD sent to US BLS shows an anemic gain of 19,248 jobs in 2011 – not the 23,000+ (later revised to 26,000+) the Walker Administration/Campaign heralded.Emphases added.
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Scott Walker claimed he created 23,608 jobs in 2011. Based on the source of QCEW data, which he is citing, that number is only between 19,248 and 19,535. An overstatement of 16-20%. Those numbers are only accurate if the inconsistent data from the state’s own reporting is accurate. That is why this early data release was so misleading and misstated – nothing has been verified.
So the unverified data showed that Walker's assessment of 2011 was off by around 4,000 jobs.
"But so what?" you might be asking. "19,000 jobs is still a significant growth in jobs." (Actually, it pales in comparison to the last year of Gov. Jim Doyle's job numbers, but let's go with it.) "You shouldn't be so critical of Walker for having a full year of job growth."
That might make sense -- were Walker actually responsible for those jobs created. As I've pointed out on this blog on countless occasions, Walker's budget wasn't implemented until the end of June 2011. In those previous posts, it was clear that Walker's budget stagnated the growth that had occurred at the beginning of the year -- which was created by an entirely different (and Democratic) administration.
How do Walker's own numbers (Excel) hold up to this trend? See for yourself:
A significant gain in jobs from the first six months, then a decline, a recovery, and then another decline in the following six months.
Overall, the first six months of 2011 -- again, when Doyle's budget was in play, not Walker's -- were a net gain. The last six months (Walker's budget) produced a net loss, halving the gains created in the first part of the year.
But, lo and behold, just weeks before the election was to take place, Walker released these numbers without the month-to-month breakdown. And the Department of Workforce Development refused to release them until after the recall. All we heard, then, was that more than 20,000 jobs were created in 2011. No context. No nothing.
Walker spun the numbers to make it sound as if he had been responsible for the job gains. In fact, he was responsible -- for cutting them in half.
We were duped. The job creation came under an entirely different budget. And after Walker passed his own budget, nearly 25,000 jobs were lost.
It's easy to win an election when you omit information that might jeopardize your victory. That Scott Walker used the Department of Workforce Development to conceal this knowledge is beyond reproach, a new low for this administration already accustomed to keeping Wisconsin in the dark about his record.