Wisconsin 42nd in Private-Sector Job Growth, Report Says

Gov. Scott Walker won a recall election contested largely on economic issues, but the state ranked in the bottom 20 percent in the nation in private-sector job creation in the nation in the 12 months ending last June, according to government jobs data.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Wisconsin added just over 35,000 private-sector jobs, according to the Quarterly Census on Earnings and Wages, which covers 96% of the nation's public and private sector employers. That's a 1.5 percent increase.

The 12 months of job creation data is considered by economists to be the most accurate information of hiring in the country, according to the Journal Sentinel. And the end of the measuring period coincided with the recall election victory of Gov. Walker. His campaign win was based on economic issues such as job growth.

Walker’s office was pre-releasing census job data each quarter, but did not compare the data to other states, the Journal Sentinel reported. Top-ranked North Dakota had a 12.1% increase in private-sector hiring; Utah and Texas were above 4 percent.

Wisconsin did rank 20th in private-sector manufacturing jobs compared to other states. It saw in increase of 11,788 new production jobs.