Walker ignores educated workforce leaving Wisconsin, as he tries to revive old Manufacturing base!

My head hurts when I hear Scott Walker brag about his low unemployment numbers, while at the same time claiming his low job creation numbers are due to fewer jobs lost during the recession. Crazy!

Walker has received little criticism for trying to revive Wisconsin's flagging manufacturing base, all the while discouraging a new generation of businesses that will not only bring with it manufacturing jobs, but also high tech employment. Personally, Walker's governorship came at exactly the wrong time, when the economy readjusted itself after the Great Recession.

That's why the next generation of educated workers are leaving the state; they're seeing nothing but under-appreciated low paying jobs. Here's the latest research proving that point:

WSJ: Why is Wisconsin in the bottom third of states when it comes to creating jobs? UW-Oshkosh economics professor M. Kevin McGee thinks … Walker hasn’t been able to create jobs because there aren't enough workers to go around.

Walker’s focus on big business ignored the other half of the equation; employees. And guess what, people seeking employment don't like the GOP's attitude toward labor and the added difficulty getting when people are between jobs.  

"We are no longer attracting workers to come to Wisconsin, and are indeed losing workers at nearly every age level over the prime working years. If this continues for long, it would not bode well in the long term for the state."

"I see no evidence that he's (Walker) had any positive impact on the state's economy. Yes, the unemployment rate is low, but Wisconsin's unemployment rate is always low ... ironically, that may be a reflection of the underlying problem. People who leave the state often do so when they are between jobs, so an out-migration will artificially lower the unemployment rate." The state is having trouble attracting and retaining workers, particularly in the 18-26 and 36-44 age groups.

“Wisconsin’s anemic labor force growth rate has resulted in the lowest job growth rate in the area in the last year — May 2014 to May 2015,” he writes. “As a result, in June 2015 Wisconsin had roughly 58,000 fewer jobs than it would have had if it had kept up with its neighbors.” McGee found that Wisconsin's population growth has fallen behind projections for just over four years. "But I don't think you could easily categorize state policy over the last four years as having been particularly 'worker friendly.' To determine whether that has mattered, we'd need to survey a whole lot of those state emigrants -- and I don't think that's likely to happen."

Let's not forget the other big reason for our slow economic growth:

Several economists, including McGee, have in the past blamed the state’s anemic recovery from the recession on Walker’s move to effectively cut the take-home pay for the massive public sector workforce.

This interesting letter to the editor about the above research summed it up well:

I think one can directly attribute the reason people are leaving the state to Scott Walker and his cronies demeaning young people, educated people, state employees, etc., etc. I am writing this from Chicago where my wife and I moved three years ago after the Act 10 was enacted and the recall failed. I am a retired state employee who got out when I could and my wife took a good job here in Chicago.

Why would anyone want to stay in Wisconisn when highly educated hardworking people are vilified at every turn. Walker and his Republican idiots are trying to dumb down Wisconsin so they can keep pulling the wool Wisconsin.

Roger James    Chicago, Illinois