Gov. Walker: Growth in Wisconsin Jobs

The state partnered with the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association to produce and distribute brief radio address once a week.  Audio files and a written transcript of this radio address can be accessed on http://www.wi-broadcasters.org and http://walker.wi.gov/Weekly-Radio-Addresses.  To download an mp3 file, you can right click the radio address link and click “save link as.”

Here is the transcript from Thursday’s address, titled Growth in Wisconsin Jobs.

Hi, this is Scott Walker.

Wisconsin’s economy is improving. 

Recently, the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development (DWD) sent federal government actual jobs data compiled from unemployment insurance reports submitted by nearly every business in Wisconsin.  The actual jobs count showed that Wisconsin added 37,464 private-sector jobs from March of last year to March of this year. There was also good news for important economic sectors such as manufacturing, where more than 12,000 new jobs have been added.  Beyond the raw jobs numbers, the data revealed other positive indicators, which showed that overall wages grew by more than 7 percent. 

Last year, I indicated I will track job growth by the actual job count data instead of other statistics like the monthly job estimates, because the job count is widely regarded as more accurate.  We will continue using this measurement as we evaluate the overall strength of Wisconsin’s economy in the future. 

Moving forward, I will continue to focus on growing Wisconsin jobs for workers and for families.