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Wisconsin
Department of Workforce Development Secretary Reggie Newson
discusses phase one of Gov. Scott Walker's "Wisconsin
Working" plan, on Tuesday at Phillips Plastics in
Eau Claire
.
Newson's agency will be adding 14 positions to assist in
re-employment services and will double the number of job fairs it
conducts in 2012.
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MADISON - Wisconsin lost 3,900 private-sector
jobs in December to mark the sixth straight month of losses, a report issued
Thursday by the state Department of Workforce Development showed.
The latest numbers are bad news for Gov.
Scott Walker, who pledged during the 2010 campaign to add 250,000
private-sector jobs over four years. Jobs during his first year in office
were up just 13,500.
Even worse, Wisconsin's job losses came while
the nation added 212,000 jobs in December.
Still, the state's unemployment rate dropped
from 7.3 percent to 7.1 percent for the month and was down from 7.5 percent
the month before Walker took office. The unemployment rate is based on a
different survey than the jobs number.
Both the unemployment rate and jobs number
are subject to revision.
Walker's spokesman, Cullen Werwie, said the
job growth reported for the year, along with the unemployment rate drop, was
good news.
"Gov. Walker's pro-growth policies and
balanced budget have helped begin to turn Wisconsin's private-sector economy
around," Werwie said.
People angry over Walker's policies in his
first year in office submitted what they said were 1 million signatures on
Tuesday to force a recall election later this year. Walker has said the
effort is baseless and his proposals, enacted largely to balance a $3.6
billion budget shortfall, are working.
But Democratic critics and others say Walker
has divided the state and are particularly upset over his proposal that
effectively ended collective bargaining rights for most public workers and
forced them to pay more for health insurance and pension benefits. Walker
said those changes helped local governments, including schools, deal with
other budget cuts.
The jobs reports give his critics more
ammunition as the process to verify recall signatures and order an election
continue. The state has lost jobs every month since Walker's two-year budget
took effect in July.
"At a time when Wisconsin is being
significantly outperformed by the national economy and most other states,
the people of our state have a right to demand a laser-like focus on job
creation," said Democratic Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca of
Kenosha, a possible candidate to challenge Walker in a recall.
Republican Senate Majority Leader Scott
Fitzgerald, who also faces a recall, emphasized that the unemployment rate
was down and job creation is up since Walker was elected and the GOP took
control of the state Legislature.
"We're going to continue fighting for
jobs this coming year," he said.
State Department of Workforce Development
Secretary Reggie Newson said in a statement that challenges remain but it is
encouraging that more people are working than a year ago and there are more
than 151,000 job openings posted on DWD's website. Higher state sales and
withholding tax collections also point toward more economic growth for the
state, Newson said.
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