Wisconsin's economy is on the upswing, Assembly Democrats reported Tuesday, though questions remain on the long-term prospects for growth.
With state employment levels stabilizing and reports of continued economic growth throughout the state, Democratic members of the Assembly Committee on Jobs, the Economy and Small Business said they believe the state is recovering.
""[Reports] show that whatever we're doing, we're doing it right,"" Committee Chair Rep. Louis Molepske, D-Stevens Point, said. ""While people have obviously lost their jobs, the fact that we're getting the economy to grow again and accelerate is key to continuing our climb out of the bottom of the recession.""
The lawmakers' announcement follows a special Assembly committee meeting held Tuesday with John Koskinen, chief economist for the Wisconsin Department of Revenue, and Zach Brandon, executive assistant at the Department of Commerce, to discuss the effectiveness of legislation that issued over $200 million in business incentives.
Supplementing Democrats' statement, Gov. Jim Doyle reported Tuesday on the first quarter impact of federal dollars on Wisconsin's economy.
According to a statement, over 8,000 full-time jobs were created or maintained from the nearly $680 million allotted to Wisconsin through the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act.
Republicans challenged Democrats' ""rosy"" message of economic improvement in a statement released by state Rep. Rich Zipperer, R-Pewaukee, a Republican in the Assembly Committee on Jobs, the Economy and Small Business.
""The rosy message that we heard from these agencies is in stark contrast to what workers and employers in the private sector have been saying,"" Zipperer said in a statement.
Republicans reported that Forbes magazine cited Wisconsin as the third worst environment for creating jobs in the nation, blaming recent tax increases as the leading cause for the poor ranking.
Andrew Reschovsky, UW-Madison professor of public affairs and applied economics, said it is too soon to tell whether the positive economic trend is in response to recent legislation.
""The questions of causality are very difficult to answer,"" Reschovsky said, asking whether a legislative incentive would really be the reason a firm chose to expand its employment or move to the state. ""Unless you can control for all other factors, it's very hard to attribute causality to any particular policy.""
Despite Republican claims, Democratic lawmakers said they plan to move forward with additional legislation.
""The next step is continuing what we've been doing well with our very aggressive tax credit incentives policies and continuing to evaluate what we can do on the ground,"" Molepske said.
