Although a Department of Workforce Development report released Thursday shows positive job growth in January, it also revealed Wisconsin suffered substantial job losses in 2011.
The state gained 15,700 private-sector jobs this January, but lost private-sector jobs in five of the last six months and a total of 9,700 jobs in 2011.
The report shows that January’s unemployment rate is the lowest in a little over three years with a rate of 6.9 percent, down from 7 percent in Dec. 2011.
DWD Secretary Reginald Newson said the January job estimates show growth across most industries, and the 6.9 percent unemployment rate remains well below the national average.
Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said in a press release the numbers are “encouraging and show our reforms are continuing to take hold and are improving the economic climate in Wisconsin.”
But Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Mike Tate disagreed with Fitzgerald, saying the Bureau of Labor Statistic’s revised numbers show Wisconsin had an overall job loss trend in 2011 and Walker’s policies are to blame.
Tate also said Walker cannot be credited for the addition of thousands of jobs in the state since January.
“The nation’s rising tide has lifted Scott Walker’s sinking ship, and we are all glad our friends and neighbors will finally see some of the relief that the rest of the nation has been experiencing for most of Scott Walker’s term,” Tate said.
Frustrated with the overall 2011 unemployment numbers, Assembly Democratic Leader Peter Barca, D-Kenosha, said in a statement he demands state leaders put a greater emphasis on creating jobs.
“While there is little time left in the spring legislative session and an agenda filled with extreme social bills, it is never too late to work together with a laser focus on job creation, as we have wanted to do for the past year,” Barca said.
