Vos-Republicans want to repeal $300 UC benefit as cover for growing WI Labor Shortage they Ignored!

The one common theme coming from Vos-Republicans; weaponizing the very problems they've created or refused to solve - like broadband, immigration, and now the pandemic - by incoherently blaming the Democratic governor.

We saw this same ploy used against Obama's slow but steady economic recovery from the Republican created Great Recession. Any one see a change under Trump? Nope, the pace of growth was the same:

Hyperbolic Anger toward "lazy workers" is another Manufactured Outrage, but it  makes them feel good: There is a worker shortage, yet Wisconsin is already near the unemployment rate just before the pandemic:

After the state’s unemployment rate skyrocketed to about 14% in April 2020 due to the pandemic and subsequent shutdowns or restrictions on several industries, it began to slowly fall last year. As of March, the unemployment rate was 3.8% — near the 3.5% rate in February 2020, according to the state Department of Workforce Development.

After a global pandemic and major business adjustments, Republicans expect economy and employees to come back immediately, like flicking a light switch?

The reopening of the economy, fueled by substantial federal aid and rising vaccination rates, has released pent-up demand among consumers to eat out, travel, shop, attend public events and visit with friends and relatives. Companies can't hire people fast enough.

"It’s a (job) applicant’s world right now,” said Tom Krist, majority owner and president of Wisconsin job placement agency WFA Staffing. But even prior to the pandemic, there were tens of thousands of unfilled jobs in Wisconsin. Tony Sarsam, CEO of SpartanNash, a Michigan-based grocery distributor and retailer said, "What everyone seems to have forgotten was that pre-pandemic, the number one, two and three issues employers had was finding talent,"

Vos-Republicans Blame Gov. Evers/Biden and $300 UC funding for Worker Shortage: Vos-Republicans oddly keep telling us how business owners are complaining to them that they aren't doing enough to force workers back. But are they also hearing complaints from workers? Will reporters ask? Note: Taking away $300 UC funding would hurt gig workers, and take away money that would be spent locally to jumpstart the our state economy: 

“There probably was a time when it made some sense to pay the supplemental benefits,” Sen. Howard Marklein told reporters. “To me, that time has lapsed and the government needs to quit competing with our local employers. We need a reset here.” Currently, enhanced federal benefits are slated to run through Sept. 6. 

The GOP legislation follows a growing number of business organizations … 50 chambers of commerce, including Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC), sent a letter to Evers again asking that the state stop participation.

Below you'll notice how WMC panicked back in 2017, not blaming Scott Walker of course, saying this was "Wisconsin mega-issue." 

Blame Gov. Evers for Decade old Workforce Shortages and Unfriendly Worker Laws: Under Scott Walker's watch, he did all he could to keep wages and benefits low, not budging on a minimum wage hike, and blocking local communities from creating their own minimum wage requirements. Here's my tweet:

From a Wisconsin State Journal story in 2017:

We were warned about this problem, but as usual, Vos-Republicans focused on tax cuts and not the growing labor shortage. And this was all before the pandemic made things much worse:

…symptoms of a growing worker shortage that is expected to worsen over the next decade, according to Wisconsin State Journal interviews with dozens of employers, economists, advocacy group experts and state political and economic development officials.

"We are right at the brink of the crisis," said Ann Franz, director of the Northeast Wisconsin Manufacturing Alliance in Green Bay. "There just aren't enough human beings in Wisconsin with baby boomers retiring."

Did Republicans do anything about the growing shortage besides running ads in Illinois trying to poach job seekers there? Of course not. Again, these comments below were made in 2017, and another example proving Republicans can't govern:

"I would call it Wisconsin's mega-issue," said Kurt Bauer, president of Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, the state's largest business group, which recently found 77 percent of members surveyed had difficulty finding workers, up from 53 percent two years ago." Many of the jobs advertised pay so low that they can't support a family or even sustain a single person. For some a low-wage job isn't worth the loss of government benefits.

Susan May, president of Fox Valley Technical College in Appleton. "The more we lose our economic base, it affects education and transportation and everything else. … It really presents a scary future for our state."

Are you sitting down? Here's Scott Walker downplaying his biggest problem and a "scary future":

"It's a good problem to have, but it's a challenge for sure," Gov. Scott Walker said in an interview.

Trump Stopped, even vilified much Needed Immigration:

Other factors contributing to the worker shortage in Wisconsin may include national immigration policy

And Biden is trying to end this obvious but ignored Republican problem:

Low-income workers might lack access to transportation and child care, making it harder to work or receive training. In some cases the potential loss of public benefits or garnished child support payments make working for $10 to $12 an hour less appealing.

Vos-Republican Power Play, Again: The current scheme by WI Republicans is to defund everything in the state budget so they can force the Governor to spend COVID relief funding the way they want. Yes, a pouty tantrum. Here's just one example of their transparent and grotesque power play:

GOP Majority Leader Steineke on NOT providing UC to Wisconsinites: It "would only serve to expand eligibility to an already strained system." Yes!

Republicans don't seem too worried about losing their jobs by an angry electorate over their incompetence and inaction on the now out-of-control rise in Covid-19 cases: "On Tuesday, DHS reported a single-day increase of 1,117. A death toll increase of 13 over Monday."

We're now in the "uncontrolled spread" category.
Also, safely gerrymandered Republicans aren't concerned about the backlog of desperate Wisconsinites trying to finally get their unemployment checks. Like everything else, leaders Fitzgerald and Vos aren't interested in Gov. Evers proposed changes to speed UC processing up, because the maze they came up with is doing just what it was supposed to do; make it difficult.

Take this breathtakingly twisted admission by Republican Rep. Jim Steineke that while the backlog is now Gov. Evers fault, giving more people unemployment...is really the problem. You can't make this stuff up:

Assembly Majority Leader Jim Steineke said in a statement. “The tired proposals trotted out today would only serve to expand eligibility to an already strained system and fuel the flames of the problem at hand.”

Yes, he actually said that out loud. I hope that's clear now.

Scott Walker's purely partisan agenda was part of a nationwide GOP effort to punish the unemployed and force them to work for less. But the pandemic exposed that cruelty (Listen to the NPR Marketplace audio below):

Wisconsin’s unemployment insurance woes are part of a national trend, according to experts and media reports.

“Systems have been over-calibrated to prevent overpayments at the expense of paying appropriate benefits. States have programmed their computer systems to pause applications at every decision point, which can generate multiple eligibility determinations and denials,” Michele Evermore, senior policy analyst with the unemployment law group, testified this month to the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance. “As we have seen, that is going to slow down benefits getting to the public when there is a crisis.”

A 2014 state audit found that DWD call centers automatically blocked 80% of calls during times of high volume. 

Additionally, Walker signed a lame-duck law just before Evers took office that restricts the governor’s ability to waive certain requirements for state-federal benefits programs including unemployment insurance. And Wisconsin’s $370 a week maximum benefit is among the most miserly in the United States, ranking 40th

Speaking of Scott Walker...on WKOW's Capitol City Sunday, Emilee Fannon interviewed our seriously uninformed former governor Scott Walker, who hid his incompetence with repetitive memorized slogans and limited media access.

Remember Steineke's comment above, how it would "...only serve to expand eligibility to an already strained system," yes, that's what were trying to do! Urrghhhh!  

Walker, like he always does, focused on just one thing that he probably rehearsed a thousand times at home on, his claim that not enough people are processing claims. He wasn't about to take any responsibility for making it harder, and certainly didn't regret never updating the system when the state had surplus money to fix the phone system:

When pressed on whether he would encourage his GOP colleagues to accept changes to the laws he said lawmakers could, but reiterated it’s not a solution to the backlog.

“Making changes is fine, but that’s not the hang-up. You need more state government employees to process these claims.” 

Special note: After I tweeted a criticism of Fannon's interviewing powers, she came back strong in this interview. That's how it's done!

Republicans, who were once outraged they were left out of solving the pandemic shutdown, are now ignoring the sudden spike in cases and deaths, with no plans to deal with the predicted spread. 

I just found this Neil Covuto's show interview with Walker, were he said politician had to come up with a plan...you can't hide from this one Scott.

Scott Walker says there has to be a balance: Anyone see one now? Walker insists there has to be a "balance" where there is none, and back-to-work must happen now...but slowly? 



Here's more from a May 2019 post:

Making Unemployment Insurance Impossible to Get or Keep: Walker did everything he could to discourage and drop workers from their unemployment benefits. Other states went even further. Here's public radio's Marketplace report exposing the scheme to lower unemployment numbers, something Scott Walker exploited:



Here's are a few changes Walker put in place that are now being targeted by Gov. Evers for elimination or change:

1. One-week waiting period to qualify for unemployment benefits. 

2. A provision that makes people ineligible for benefits if fired for what the law defines as “substantial fault,” or failure to conform to a “reasonable” employer job policy ... recent court cases found it was improperly used to deny unemployment benefits to eligible applicants. 

3. The administration has authority to define the types of job offers a person can reject and remain eligible for benefits.

4. Eliminating requirements adopted in 2015 that applicants submit to drug testing to receive jobless benefits. The most sweeping of those requirements has not yet taken effect due to federal delays.

5. If someone has more than one job and quits one of them, they are now ineligible to collect unemployment for the next year if they’re laid off from another job.

The changes were part of a scheme to cut business contributions into the insurance program and artificially make the numbers lower to look like we didn't have a problem in the eyes of the federal government. It worked too. Here's a link to Wisconsin efforts and other state's cuts to unemployment eligibility.

With a minimum wage of $7.25 and tough unemployment insurance requirements that include work requirements and drug testing for food and housing benefits, is it any surprise Wisconsin has a labor shortage and out migration problem. 

Sad Republicans: With Great Power comes Great Irresponsibility: They Screwed up, now seek Governors Solution.

Enter COVID-19 Pandemic: Businesses closed and unemployment skyrocketed. But it could have been any other kind of disaster, natural or economic:

(Wisconsin now has) a backlog of 675,000 unemployment claims that are part of the surge driven by the coronavirus pandemic.

Gerrymandered Elections have Devastating Consequences: When Republicans gutted the governors powers before taking office, they did it simply because he was a Democrat:

JSONLINE: GOP lawmakers have instituted a series of benefit restrictions over the last decade that have limited Evers’ ability to respond to the current situation. Most recently, they approved lame-duck laws just before Evers took office that prevent him from loosening many benefit eligibility rules.

But Republican can't Govern or Solve Problems: Seeing the backlog they created, panic set in, and they demanded Gov. Evers do something. Almost laughable was this bumbling realization by a clueless Rep. John Nygren:

Nygren and other Republicans this month called on the administration to issue payments to some beneficiaries before reviewing whether their claims are valid. But he said he has since learned the administration doesn't have the authority to do that. 

No sh** Sherlock. Exposed, Nygren and his band of plundering Republican pirates admitted they can't fix problems, so they're actually throwing it back to Gov. Evers to give them a solution:

Nygren said he is open to crafting legislation to try to address the issue but hasn't gotten answers from the administration about what it needs. 

Will November see Republicans lose even a few elections? Nope. We're stuck with this totally irresponsible legislature thanks to tribalism and Trump cultist voters :

And Wisconsin was the last state in the nation to begin issuing $600-a-week enhanced payments provided by the federal government. 

Why was Wisconsin the last state? Simple...

Republican lawmakers have taken lumps in recent weeks because they forced the state to cover $25 million in benefits that would have been picked up by the federal government if they had acted more quickly to pass a coronavirus relief package.

Evers spokeswoman Britt Cudaback said "Republicans weren’t concerned enough about unemployment insurance to convene the Legislature before Wisconsin lost out on $25 million in federal funding last month, or at any point in the last eight years during which they made it harder for people in our state to access this critical assistance." 

Policy Failures shine a bright light on Walker Republicans: Did you hear, Republican saved taxpayers billions of dollars not paying for anything, a real badge of honor for freeloaders.

Unemployment Calls Blocked! Remember when Republicans bragged about Scott Walker's legacy? Here's another legacy disaster we all knew the next governor would have to fix regarding their Rube Goldberg version of collecting unemployment benefits; unemployed callers were blocked. Would I kid you? Curtesy of State Sen. Dave Hansen:  

"Republicans knew of the state’s unemployment system’s inability to handle large numbers of applications but did nothing to fix the problem. According to an audit conducted by the state’s non-partisan Legislative Audit Bureau in fiscal year 2013- 2014 1.7 million calls, or 60.2% were blocked. “From December 2013 through January 2014, more than 80.0 percent of the 836,700 calls to the telephone line for initial claims were blocked.” 

“Since the audit Republicans have known about the problems with and limitations of the unemployment insurance system but did little to nothing to fix it. For them to now be trying to place the blame on our Governor and Secretary Frostman for the difficulties caused in large part by their lack of concern for the unemployed is hypocritical and disingenuous,” said Hansen

GOP limits on Unemployment Insurance Benefits helped lower rate artificially, at workers expense.

On unemployment, we've got a problem. Our meddling career politician Scott Walker, who still can't get over losing his job, has been doling out horrible advice to Gov. Tony Evers and the Rhode Island governor. He can't stop bragging about the unemployment numbers he got thanks to Obama's recovery plan after the Republican Great Recession.

Oh, and Medicaid isn't a "welfare" program, it's a national health care insurance plan:

Making Unemployment Insurance Impossible to Get or Keep: Walker did everything he could to discourage and drop workers from their unemployment benefits. Other states went even further. Here's public radio's Marketplace report exposing the scheme to lower unemployment numbers, something Scott Walker exploited:



Here's are a few changes Walker put in place that are now being targeted by Gov. Evers for elimination or change:

1. One-week waiting period to qualify for unemployment benefits. 

2. A provision that makes people ineligible for benefits if fired for what the law defines as “substantial fault,” or failure to conform to a “reasonable” employer job policy ... recent court cases found it was improperly used to deny unemployment benefits to eligible applicants. 

3. The administration has authority to define the types of job offers a person can reject and remain eligible for benefits.

4. Eliminating requirements adopted in 2015 that applicants submit to drug testing to receive jobless benefits. The most sweeping of those requirements has not yet taken effect due to federal delays.

5. If someone has more than one job and quits one of them, they are now ineligible to collect unemployment for the next year if they’re laid off from another job.

The changes were part of a scheme to cut business contributions into the insurance program and artificially make the numbers lower to look like we didn't have a problem in the eyes of the federal government. It worked too. Here's a link to Wisconsin efforts and other state's cuts to unemployment eligibility.

With a minimum wage of $7.25 and tough unemployment insurance requirements that include work requirements and drug testing for food and housing benefits, is it any surprise Wisconsin has a labor shortage and out migration problem. 

Artificially Low Unemployment Benefits another Walker Scheme!!!

No wonder we have a hard time attracting labor into Wisconsin:

In 2014 Wisconsin increased the maximum rate for unemployment benefits — calculated as a percentage of what an employee earned before losing a job, up to as much as $370 a week. Evers wants to raise that maximum to $406 a week.

Evers administration officials said Wisconsin’s jobless benefit rate currently is less than most other states.

Here's why Gov. Evers wants the change:

The department “believes that individuals who lose work through no fault of their own shouldn’t have to worry about paying their bills,” spokesman Ben Jedd said.

 But wait, Republicans don't like this one bit. They intend to make people who lose their jobs feel uncomfortable? Yes:

Critics, meanwhile, fear the state could make it too enticing to claim jobless benefits.“We don’t want to make it too comfortable to remain unemployed,” said Scott Manley, senior vice president of the state’s business lobby, Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce.

You know, it's that old comfort level thing so many people have when they lose their job while still trying to feed themselves or their families and keep a roof over their heads. Lot of comfort there.

Again, Republicans are now openly saying the unemployed are lazy shiftless losers who have no value to society unless they're working, and Republicans need to "push people"..:

Rep. Mike Rohrkaste, R-Neenah, said increasing jobless benefits is unnecessary at a time when Wisconsin’s unemployment rate is just 3 percent. “We want people in the workforce now, particularly when jobs are plentiful. Let’s push people that can be working to be working.”

Walker/Republicans dipped their hands in Taxpayer Pockets to save Business Money: Check out the comment and the highlighted words below:

WMC's Manley, one of five management representatives on the state’s Unemployment Advisory Council said the council has helped keep Wisconsin’s unemployment insurance program stable and mostly uncontroversial, but Evers’ proposal threatens that balance.

That's funny, because under Scott Walker, Republicans came up with a scheme to deceptively moved taxpayer money around to keep unemployment benefit rates artificially low in Wisconsin for employers, it's called market manipulation. I blogged about this way back in Nov. 2015:
___________________________________________________________________________________________

Scott Walker and the Republican legislature bailed out businesses in 2013, because they were on the hook for replenishing the unemployment fund.

From way back on July 11, 2013: Here’s what Walker put in place on our dime:

jsonline: Under changes to the state's unemployment insurance system adopted by the Legislature's budget committee Wednesday, taxpayers would spend $26 million over two years to prop up the unemployment fund, To avoid having employers face new assessments this year, the committee voted to use $26 million in general tax dollars to pay down interest on that loan.

Think that’s bad? Taxpayers will be used to scam the federal government. Republican will borrow our hard earned taxpayer dollars to shore up the unemployment fund so the fed won’t raise taxes on EMPLOYERS, the ones who actually fund the account.

Additionally, the committee proposal would allow the state Department of Administration to lend up to $50 million in taxpayer money to the unemployment insurance fund. That loan would help the state ensure that the unemployment fund has a positive balance in 2014, which in turn would keep the federal government from raising taxes on employers by $191 million in 2015.

But did taxpayers ever get the $50 million back? And then there's this Evers proposed change:

Eliminating a provision that makes people ineligible for benefits if fired for what the law defines as “substantial fault,” or failure to conform to a “reasonable” employer job policy. This standard has been the subject of recent court cases in which judges found it was improperly used to deny unemployment benefits to eligible applicants.

That was also part of the scheme mentioned above:

jsonline: Tighten the definition of workplace misconduct so that fewer people would qualify for benefits. Eliminate nine instances in which a worker can quit a job and still claim benefits.

But how about penalties for unintended unemployment application errors?

Bill targets unemployment fraud by prohibiting a person from receiving unemployment benefits for seven years if they have twice been found to have lied to the state to receive benefits passed the Republican Assembly 63-34.

Walker takes Credit for Madison Mayor Paul Soglin's and Milwaukee's Tom Barrett's Unemployment Numbers.

Shout it from the hill top...

...since Scott Walker and possible gubernatorial challenger Mayor Paul Soglin took office within 3 months of each other in 2011, Walker added 60,000 jobs in Wisconsin.

But wait, 40,000 of those jobs were created in Madison, and the Madison area (Dane County), according to Soglin.

Someone is riding the coattails of progressive liberal Madison and Dane County (Milwaukee too, see below). Opportunistic Scott Walker. His reaction to Soglin's plain talk thoughts about running?

"It would make for a lively race. He’s an unabashed throwback to the 1960s radical liberal. I’d love to have that battle.”

Here's Upfront's Mike Gousha interviewing Paul Soglin, who you'll notice doesn't use one political cliche or talking point about party or policy.

Soglin: "The governor goes around saying 'well we're in the top ten, in terms of high school graduation rates.' The governors right. But he's doesn't finish the sentence. When he came into office we were 2nd in the state...now we're 8th.

Thanks to Soglin, Madison's 2.2% unemployment rate is driving down"Walker's" statewide average too. And yet we should thank coattail Scott? 

Walker's former gubernatorial opponent and all around bad liberal Mayor Tom "streetcar" Barrett did almost the impossible, yet Walker is trying to take credit for that too in a few of his official tweets:

At 4 percent, the city of Milwaukee’s unemployment rate is tied for the lowest on record.

Remember, Scott Walker nearly bankrupt Milwaukee County when he was county executive. We're on that same glide path as a state. 

Walker creating large gap between jobless claims and job losses to kill Unemployment Benefits.

The news media is slowly catching on to the Republican plan to make unemployment benefits a thing of the past, handing big business a huge but little talked about tax cut. 

Scott Walker has put Wisconsin on the front line of states trying to end the very program we created back in 1932, unemployment insurance. And it's a double edges sword, because Walker has also tied these reforms to a work requirement and drug test for food stamp recipients. They go hand in hand:

Governor Scott Walker on Wednesday, May 4th 2016 approved a rule requiring certain Wisconsinites receiving unemployment insurance benefits to pass a drug test. Gov. Scott Walker would also extend the requirement that people work 80 hours a month to receive food stamps to parents of school-aged children. It would also move forward with drug testing as a requirement for food stamp recipients.

But as a recent story on WPT's Here and Now explained, the unemployed and hungry aren't trying to scam the system or use the benefit programs as a hammock. Instead, they're getting hammered and shut out of both programs because of hoops, barricades, red tape and burdensome regulations by "small government" Republicans on purpose. Are any of the people in the story below lazy?

A recent issue of Isthmus exposed the Walker/GOP plan to purge workers safety nets:

In December 2015, the state departments of Justice and Workforce Development announced they were cracking down on unemployment fraud.

Worker advocates say that this crackdown is increasingly going after people ... who find themselves before a judge, facing fines and even criminal charges for honest mistakes or even the mistakes of state workers. The Department of Workforce Development seems to want to prevent anyone from getting benefits. Victor Forberger, an attorney who specializes in unemployment issues and keeps a blog monitoring the state’s new efforts (said) “They’re not trying to stop mistakes; they’re trying to make it worse.”

So to cut taxes for businesses, Walker is going to make it impossible for employees to collect unemployment benefits.

In the 2013-15 budget, Gov. Scott Walker created substantial fault — for when people can be fired and not collect benefits ... if someone has more than one job and quits one of them, they are now ineligible to collect unemployment for the next year if they’re laid off from another job ... “You’re penalizing people who work more than one job, and it undermines the entire system of unemployment.”

In a 2015 law, the state changed what it means to “conceal” income while receiving unemployment benefits ... the new law said the state no longer has to “prove that a claimant had an intent or design to receive benefits to which the claimant knows he or she was not entitled.” Now, honest mistakes can lead to fines and criminal charges.

Fraud is almost nonexistent. But that's not the point:

A December 2014 report by the Legislative Audit Bureau found that only 9.5 percent of the overpayments between 2011 and 2014 was the result of people intentionally trying to defraud the state. The rest, 90 percent, were due to unintentional mistakes or department errors.

I blogged awhile ago about the states use of taxpayer money to fill the unemployment funds deficit hole after the great recession so businesses wouldn't see an increase in taxes. Much of that money never came back. The story received almost no attention.

Heidi Shierholz, senior economist at the Economic Policy Institute, mentioned this problem in the Wall Street Journal article - The Growing Gap Between Jobless Claims and Job Losses:

There is a growing gap between the number of workers losing their jobs and the number applying for unemployment benefits ... Heidi Shierholz at the Economic Policy Institute said, “So there is something else putting downward pressure on claims.”

That “something else” could be more than one thing, not all good—such as tenuous work arrangements or difficulty applying for benefits.

The National Employment Law Project, a nonprofit research and advocacy group, also has tracked the decline in unemployment claims. “In general, we’re concerned that significant numbers of involuntarily unemployed workers are being prevented from receiving benefits to which they may be entitled, especially workers with labor market disadvantages like limited English proficiency, limited experience with computer technology, limited literacy,” said Claire McKenna, a senior policy analyst at NELP.

For example, states that shift to online claims filing from telephone filing may be locking out of the application process people who don’t have ready access to the Internet or the kind of documentation needed to qualify.

Walker Mind-blower: Low unemployment, high participation rate now hurting businesses - not enough workers!!!

Wisconsin is a wonderful four season recreational wonderland for tourists. 

But tourism is now on the back-bench, playing third string to factory farms and mining. More on that below, but first…

...Walker's efforts to get government out of the way of business has made Wisconsin too successful!!!

That’s right, despite being in the middle of the pack on job creation, to being last when it comes to business startups, Walker is faced with a unique problem. This will blow your mind…:

Figures, a guy from Minn.

Walker spokesman Tom Evenson said … other factors contribute to (job) vacancies (at the DNR).

“State agencies actively seek to fill needed positions. Wisconsin’s low unemployment rate and high labor force participation are not only making it difficult to hire for the state, but many employers as well.”

No wonder Walker still hasn’t fulfilled his failed campaign promise of creating 250,000 jobs…a low ball number he said was just a starting point.

So the message to business: Stay away from Wisconsin, we don’t have the labor force? Big and bold admission.

Back to the original story, where Walker is dismantling another of Wisconsin’s biggest money makers (besides the UW); tourism. Eliminating taxpayer support of our state parks was outrageous enough, but..:

From 2005 to 2011, the water program dedicated most of its staff time inspections and enforcement, auditors said. After Walker took office, more time was spent on writing permits that spell out legal limits on discharges.

State job vacancies (at the DNR) have been linked to weak regulation of pollution … began climbing again last year … after Gov. Scott Walker took office … the DNR had held off on filling enough positions for the rate to rise to 14.2 percent, surpassing the average for the 14-year period.

It started with a huge wave of retirements that swept through state government after the 2010 election and into 2011 as elected officials eliminated most public sector union rights. The 246 retirements at the DNR in 2011 left the department a vacancy rate exceeding 20 percent.

Walker had proposed reducing the DNR’s authorized workforce of 2,647 full-time equivalent positions by 67. The Legislature increased the cut to 92 positions. The agency wrote notices of violation to municipal and industrial polluters in only 33 of the 558 cases. 

Walker takes credit for Wisconsinites finding jobs. Taking away their food really works?

If it sounds too good....well, that's the rule I go by anytime I hear Republicans brag about a law they say is working.

And so it is with Scott Walker's latest pronouncement that reaffirms the right wing idea that every one of those starving unemployed workers are lazy "takers." They had to be pushed into jobs by cutting off their food supply, a cruel punishment that requires 80 hours a month in work training to get food stamps. That's the going rationale that makes it acceptable to envious conservative voters.

Walker: "We will take care of our neighbors and fellow citizens, but for those who are able to work, we expect something in return."

Some of those on the FoodShare program got work, but was it because of the work requirement? Walker wants us to think it was, despite any lack of proof:

32,193 people food stamp recipients enrolled in the program since April 2015 and 11,971 participants gained employment in the past year.

More than 41,000 people lost access to food stamps within the first year of a new state law after the state said they failed to seek employment. 

But here's where Walker makes himself look good due to the lack of information:

The department does not track how many of those who gained employment are no longer enrolled in the FoodShare program.

Nor does the administration track how many people who are eligible for the program found work on their own.

Walker targets Jobless to take "lower paying jobs much sooner."

Humiliation and forced cheap labor is on the Republican fast track. Thanks to the effort of big monied lobbyist WMC, and their willing dupe Scott Walker.

It's not like wages weren't low enough already in Wisconsin:

WSJ: Despite a new report showing Wisconsin has the fastest-shrinking middle class in the U.S., the Gov. Scott Walker administration says the state is headed in the right direction.

Unfazed by that devastating news, Walker's rigid ideological agenda remained unchanged. He now wants to increase cheap labor in the state, and force Wisconsinites into taking those lower wage jobs. WPR:

This week, lawmakers heard testimony on a bill that more clearly defines when someone looking for work can reject a job. Scott Manley from Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce said the bill expands what jobs should be considered and spells out when there is just cause for refusing work.

Leave it to WMC to go for it all, demeaning those who were once in highly successful careers, and dumping them into menial jobs:

"An unemployed worker who is collecting benefits can actually refuse a job and continue to collect benefits if the job offer does not constitute suitable work," Manley said.

The bill gives out-of-work people less time to wait for a job comparable to the one they had. "The changes made by this bill will force workers to take lower paying jobs much sooner," said Kevin McGee with Legal Action Wisconsin.

The Specter of Fraud: Republicans were so successful using the fear of fraud to suppress voter turnout, they're now going to use the same tactic for "unemployment fraud." 

Gov. Scott Walker wants changes to jobless benefits that employers say will prevent fraud and strengthen the state's unemployment fund.

The Dirty Little Funding Secret: Republicans and employers hate putting money into the state's unemployment fund so much that they conceived the scam below. This is corporate welfare on steroids, from a posted I wrote July 11, 2013:

jsonline: Under changes to the state's unemployment insurance system adopted by the Legislature's budget committee Wednesday, taxpayers would spend $26 million over two years to prop up the unemployment fund, To avoid having employers face new assessments this year, the committee voted to use $26 million in general tax dollars to pay down interest on that loan.

Think that’s bad? Taxpayers will be used to scam the federal government. Republican will borrow our hard earned taxpayer dollars to shore up the unemployment fund so the fed won’t raise taxes on EMPLOYERS, the ones who actually fund the account.

Additionally, the committee proposal would allow the state Department of Administration to lend up to $50 million in taxpayer money to the unemployment insurance fund. That loan would help the state ensure that the unemployment fund has a positive balance in 2014, which in turn would keep the federal government from raising taxes on employers by $191 million in 2015.

Instead of employers taking responsibility for funding their own insurance program, Walker Republicans have shifted that liability over to taxpayers. All is well in "Stand with Walker" land.

Walker's Wisconsin moving in opposite direction, Unemployment up from 4.2 to 4.3%

Live by the the unemployment numbers, die by the unemployment numbers. 

Getting what mileage he could out of the old 4.2% unemployment number he mentioned in his state-of-the-state address, you can bet Scott Walker won't be announcing the noticeable increase to 4.3% anytime soon. 

Walker's now higher 4.3% unemployment rate came from job losses in the lower wage service sector, while Minnesota's Democratically run economy saw the rate lower to 3.5%:

Jakes: Every single private-sector services area failed to gain jobs last month, with consumer-driven sectors doing the worst. This includes 1,900 jobs lost in the Leisure and Hospitality Sector (bars, restaurants and lodging) abd 4,500 jobs lost in the "Trade" Sector (which includes retail and related store-type positions). And to add insult to the injury of Wisconsin job losses. 

Take a look at what happened to the blue state across the St. Croix. Minnesota employers added 9,100 jobs in December, boosting the state’s job gains for 2015 to over 42,000. The Department of Employment and Economic Development reported Thursday that the state’s unemployment rate fell to a seasonally adjusted 3.5 percent in December from a revised rate of 3.6 percent in November.

Because Walker's Wisconsin leads the nation in a declining middle class and business startups, so consumers have less to spend, meaning lower demand and lower general tax revenues. It's one of the biggest failings of "supply-side economics." WPR:

The Legislative Fiscal Bureau says the state’s general fund will end with a balance of about $135 million in July of 2017 — $94 million less than previously predicted. The Fiscal Bureau said a drop in tax collections was the biggest factor driving the decrease ... it could make some (Republican legislators) uneasy about approving new spending during the remaining couple months of session. 

The decline in tax revenue isn't just a result of lower consumer demand. The supply-side tax credit estimates for manufacturing and agriculture, zeroing out their obligations, ended up being to way too low. Cap Times::

But recent figures from the Legislative Fiscal Bureau show the credit will cost the state at least $275 million in additional lost tax collections over the next biennium, or more than double what was originally estimated.

That's a $500 million biennial hit that'll be made up by more spending cuts and deferred maintenance. 

If Republicans can't fix our roads because they refuse to fund their transportation budget, what does that say about everything else? 

The Great Unemployment Fraud Caper!

Unemployment fraud is the latest Wisconsin legislative con. An in your face ripoff that portrays the unemployed as the real villains here, and not the our ghoulish state business climate. So Republicans are about to add a few more ways to deny claims.

Scott Walker and the Republican legislature bailed out businesses in 2013, because they were on the hook for replenishing the unemployment fund.

From way back on July 11, 2013: Here’s what Walker put in place on our dime:

jsonline: Under changes to the state's unemployment insurance system adopted by the Legislature's budget committee Wednesday, taxpayers would spend $26 million over two years to prop up the unemployment fund, To avoid having employers face new assessments this year, the committee voted to use $26 million in general tax dollars to pay down interest on that loan.

Think that’s bad? Taxpayers will be used to scam the federal government. Republican will borrow our hard earned taxpayer dollars to shore up the unemployment fund so the fed won’t raise taxes on EMPLOYERS, the ones who actually fund the account.

Additionally, the committee proposal would allow the state Department of Administration to lend up to $50 million in taxpayer money to the unemployment insurance fund. That loan would help the state ensure that the unemployment fund has a positive balance in 2014, which in turn would keep the federal government from raising taxes on employers by $191 million in 2015.

jsonline: Tighten the definition of workplace misconduct so that fewer people would qualify for benefits. Eliminate nine instances in which a worker can quit a job and still claim benefits.

With urine tests about to start up, just in time to disqualify a few Oscar Mayer workers, penalties for unintended unemployment application errors is part of the next attack:

Bill targets unemployment fraud by prohibiting a person from receiving unemployment benefits for seven years if they have twice been found to have lied to the state to receive benefits passed the Republican Assembly 63-34.

Rep. Andy Jorgensen, D-Milton, balked at the proposal, saying it could affect people who are simply confused by the application process.

Republicans know 85% of what they call "fraud" are really just mistakes made on applications. The Legislative Audit Bureau:

From FY 2011-12 through FY 2013-14, DWD identified 681,400 overpayments totaling $167.9 million. Individuals who unintentionally provided inaccurate information accounted for 84.7 percent of the number of identified overpayments, and these overpayments totaled $61.8 million ... multiple parties made errors, such as an individual and an employer who provided inaccurate wage information to DWD.

9.5% of fraud cases were intentional, discovered and recovered, keeping pace over time.

So dumping as many employees as possible from collecting unemployment is a win for business and a win for Republicans who won't have to raid the general revenue fund anymore. 

These are all short term measures that hide their failed open for business scheme. Urban Milwaukee's Data Wonk put it this way (leaving out defunding the UW, state parks and transportation borrowing):

We have become a “can’t do” state. We have become fixated on costs, including sunk costs, not opportunity. A number of recent actions—including turning down the federal rail grant, attempts to sabotage the Milwaukee street car, and refusing to expand Medicaid—suggest that Wisconsin should be numbered among the can’t do states, obsessed with cost rather than looking for opportunity.

Walker's great deception on Wisconsin's unemployment numbers exposed, used as cover-up for broken jobs promise.

It's been obvious for a long time that Scott Walker has been using the states low unemployment numbers as a substitute and distraction from his broken 250,000 jobs promise.

Relying again the national media, the Washington Post fact checkers has exposed Walker's attempt to cover up his actual uncomplimentary jobs record. They started their expose with a number of Walker claims:

1. “After years of record job loss, Wisconsin has gained over 140,000 jobs under Governor Walker, bringing the unemployment rate down to 4.6 percent, the lowest level since 2008.”   2. “[Wisconsin’s] labor participation is far greater than the national level. Unemployment’s far lower.” 

ABC News correspondent Jonathan Karl: “So one of your central promises was that you were going to create 250,000 private sector jobs in Wisconsin. … You haven’t done it. I mean, you didn’t do it. You fell quite a bit short.”

Walker: “Yeah, we set a big, bold goal. We went from 8.1 percent unemployment December before I took office to last month we nearly cut that in half at 4.4 percent, well below the national unemployment rate. We’re going to continue to aim high both in our state. And if I was the candidate for president of the United States, I’d aim high as well there.”

The amazing truth beneath the deceptive spin:

We at The Fact Checker are critical of politicians claiming success in positive employment trends, which usually can’t be traced to a policy or decision of a single individual. Walker had called 250,000 jobs “my floor, not my ceiling” and “a minimum, just a base.” But now, on the campaign trail, he emphasizes it as a “big bold goal.” 

He points instead to the decrease in the state’s unemployment rate, increase in the labor participation rate, and how they compare to the national average. Wisconsin’s labor force participation rate in July 2015 was about five percentage points higher than that month’s national rate. 

Side note: Wisconsin’s labor force participation rate in July 2015 was the lowest it had been since Walker took office in 2011. But of course that fact did not make it into his talking points. 

BLS officials warn against comparing state averages to national averages. For one, state averages are seasonally adjusted individually on the state level, so the numbers do not add up to the national level. 

Wisconsin traditionally has had a lower unemployment rate than national average, and a comparable or higher labor participation rate than the national average. Wisconsin’s labor force participation rate was higher than the national average even before Walker became governor. And the Wisconsin unemployment rate consistently has been lower than the national average since 1985. 

So while Walker touts the figures as a success, it is not a trend out of the ordinary or unique to his term ... the context in which he uses these figures exaggerate the progress under his term and deflect from his failure to keep a major campaign promise.

I'm sure the "Stand with Walker" trolls were stunned and enlightened. Didn't think so. 

Walker's inane nonsensical Tweets are crazy, if not just flat out dishonest!!!

Scott Walker continues to use Obama's national economic policies to boost his own failed performance and image in the state. We'll see more of this if what I read someplace is true; that only 39% would reelect Walker as governor.

The only thing Walker can state for real are the unemployment numbers, which by the way are rising, getting worse...oops; from 4.5 to 4.6%. Obama's unemployment stat depends a great deal on GOP states functioning correctly, employing people, which they're not. Obama's numbers look good, but could be better if not weighted down by austere Republican state policies.

And Walker thinks we're dumb enough to believe he can make such a comparison, especially after making unemployment harder to get and kicking everyone else off.

His tired old meaningless graphic drives me crazy. Is he that dishonest or what? I'm posting it here because it should embarrass him and his campaign on a more national level:
:

Walker to do for country what he's done for Wisconsin...

...like unemployment. The only thing Scott Walker has been hanging his hat on, minus the non-participation rate, is the low unemployment number. Well, that might be changing, and not in a good way:

Unemployment rates increased in most Wisconsin cities and counties in June. Unemployment rates increased in 27 out of 32 of the state's largest cities. Racine had the highest unemployment rate at 7.6 percent, up from 7.4 percent in May. Milwaukee was the second highest at 7.4 percent, up from 6.9 percent the month before. Unemployment rates went up in 51 of 72 counties.

In the anti-business liberal hell hole of the state, Madison and Dane County, just what you'd expect: 

Madison and Dane County had the lowest unemployment rates for both a city and county at 3.5 percent.

Walker loses construction jobs at start of construction season, Wisconsin now in bottom half of job growth rankings.

It's funny, I never get "stand with Walker" troll comments with stories like this...no big deal to them?

Cap Times: Wisconsin lost 6,100 private-sector jobs in May according to preliminary estimates, pushing the state into the bottom half of the country in job growth rankings … private-sector jobs in the 12-month period ending in May gave Wisconsin 1.57 percent growth, 33rd among the 50 states.

It's the lowest ranking for the state since September, when Wisconsin was 36th in year-over-year job growth in the Bureau of Labor Statistics' seasonally adjusted Current Employment Statistics figures.

Of the 6,100 jobs lost in the state between April and May, 4,000 were in construction, a job sector that has enjoyed fairly stable growth.

Of course Walker has also done the impossible; lost construction jobs in spring, at the beginning of the construction season.

Unemployment UP: But technically, if you include the non-participation rate of those not looking or who are barely employed...Trump said it best...(seriously though, it's usually about twice the reported rate):

Wisconsin's unemployment rate grew to 4.6 percent; it was at 4.4 percent in April.

Walker's Unemployment numbers up!!!

Scott Walker might forget to mention the following unemployment number on the campaign trail. Kind of hard to blame Obama when the numbers were going down and the GOP is now controlling the legislative branch: