Wisconsin, United States - Governor Scott Walker Releases Census Labor Numbers Early

May 15, 2012 - When Wisconsin job numbers compiled by the U.S. government were on the upswing last year, Governor Scott Walker traveled to Milwaukee to tout them as proof that he was turning around the state’s economy.

Now that the Bureau of Labor Statistics figures have shown for months that the state is losing more jobs than any other, Walker, a Republican who faces a June 5 recall election, will release his own. (Source: Bloomberg News

The Bureau of Labor and Statistics estimated Wisconsin lost 23,900 jobs between March 2011 and 2012, but Walker immediately found better numbers and released them yesterday.

May 17, 2012 - On Wednesday, the governor took the unusual step of releasing fourth-quarter data due out in the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' June 28 national employment report that show Wisconsin added 23,300 public and private sector jobs last year. (Source: AP via Huffington Post

The numbers released on Wednesday come from "job counts reported by 160,000 Wisconsin employers as required by law as part of their tax and unemployment insurance reports." The job counts reported on Monday and last June come from "the Current Employment Survey, which surveys about 5,500 employers, or 3.5 percent of Wisconsin businesses."

So it turns out Governer Walker presided over job growth last year, but this revelation may be a two edged sword because it casts doubt over Walker's claim of presideding over half of the United State's job growth in June. In addition, these newest numbers puts Walker on a pace that falls far short of his 2010 campaign promise to add 250,000 jobs in four years.

Until the rest of the states release their job figures, we will not know how Wisconsin has performed relative to the rest of the nation. Those voting on the recall in Wisconsin will not be able to consider this factor while making up their mind between Governer Scott Walker and his opponent, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett.

A new Marquette University Law School poll released Wednesday shows voters believe Walker would do a better job than Barrett in creating jobs, 48 percent to 41 percent. [...]The poll also showed Walker ahead of Barrett 50 percent to 44 percent... (AP via Huffington Post - linked above)

And now a punchline: Ironically, the poll surveys only 600 of Wisconsin's likely voters

reply to post by KingAceSuited

And now a punchline: Ironically, the poll surveys only 600 of Wisconsin's likely voters

Yes, that sounds about right. Probably will be only 600 voters who can afford to get in their cars, fire them up, and drive to a voting precinct.

Des

reply to post by KingAceSuited


There are so many variables in each of these studies its almost not even worth paying attention to them. For example, one of them completely ignores Wisconsin residents that live in Wisconsin but work out of state. I'm sure the amount of people that do this is pretty minor but look how it messes with numbers. It looks like these people don't have jobs in one survey. Sure, they don't have a job in Wisconsin, but they live here and pay taxes to the state no matter where the income is coming from.

All these studies and results reminds me of an old metaphor.

3 blind men were asked what an elephant looked like, one was touching the tail, one was touching the belly and one was touching the trunk. They all described something different, but it was the same elephant.

Originally posted by Destinyone
reply to post by KingAceSuited

 

And now a punchline: Ironically, the poll surveys only 600 of Wisconsin's likely voters

Yes, that sounds about right. Probably will be only 600 voters who can afford to get in their cars, fire them up, and drive to a voting precinct.

Des

I'm not sure you were kidding about the price of gas, misreading the punchline as "Wisconsin's 600 likely voters" or something else but I laughed. At least if there's 60 or so polling places then another 600 more should be in walking distance, eh?

But in all seriousness, given the million plus signatures that brought this recall into being, I'm sure quite a few more than 600 will turn out, and that the AP repeats a survey of 600 people to sample the hundreds and hundreds of thousands who will vote while doing a story that says surveying 5,500 business didn't accurately project the official documentation of 160,000 businesses is (not ha ha) funny.

reply to post by litterbaux


Thank you for the example. I don't see the point of counting the jobs of Wisconsin residents working in Wisconson. I wonder if they left out Wisconson jobs belonging to out-of-state residents. What of international immigrants? Those pollsters must do some fancy number shufflin'.