Wisconsin moved up four spots in Chief Executive magazine’s 2012 Best and Worst States for Business survey.
The state now ranks as the 20th best state to do business, an increase in four spots since last year, and 21 spots since 2010.
The magazine also singled out Wisconsin as one of the states that has shown the greatest improvement, and attributed much of it to Gov. Scott Walker.
Walker, who faces a recall election June 5, said the CEO ranking affirms that Wisconsin’s economy is improving. “We’ve done that by balancing our state budget without tax increases, enacting pro-growth initiatives to improve Wisconsin’s overall business climate and reforming our tax, regulatory, and litigation processes,” he said.
If the business climate is improved, that hasn’t yet been reflected in job creation. The Governor’s would-be recall opponents, especially Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, have shifted the focus of the campaign from Walker’s controversial changes to collective bargaining to the job losses sustained since Walker took office.
A recent report indicated that Wisconsin led the nation in job losses last year, but Walker has countered by pointing out that many of the lost jobs are public sector positions in school districts that did not use the “tools” provided in the 2011 budget repair bill. That legislation effectively curtailed collective bargaining for most public employees, including teachers, who now pay a greater share of their health care and pension benefits.
Also in the CEO magazine survey, California took the prize as worst state to do business.
