Adding more fuel to the recall election fire, Wisconsin Department of Revenue Chief Economist John Koskinen says the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ recent jobs reports for Wisconsin are not accurate.
The BLS has reported that Wisconsin had the largest job loss among the 50 states in 2011, losing 33,900 positions as jobs were being added nationally. That economic metric has become fodder in the recall campaign, as Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett has cited it as an example of how Gov. Scott Walker’s reforms are not working.
Koskinen, who said employment actually is expanding in Wisconsin, spoke about the difference between the establishment survey to measure job creation and the household survey, and offered evidence of reduced unemployment claims, growing personal income, and higher state income and sales tax collections – all indicators that employment is growing.
”Revenue collections are now running well ahead of estimates,” he noted, which is part of the reason the state now is projecting a surplus heading into the next biennial budget.
According to the Walker administration, the quarterly census of employment and wages, taken from a larger sample of employers, demonstrates that 23,321 public and private-sector jobs were created in 2011. The data has yet to be verified by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Barrett slammed the timing of the release, claiming that Walker is releasing obscure jobs data to save his job.
The state jobs report for April is due out this week, and it will be the last jobs report to be released before the June 5 recall. Here is a video link to Koskinen’s recent presentation.
