walker says recall to blame

Sep 28, 2013 10:09 AM

Governor Scott Walker blames last year's recall election for the newly-reported lag in Wisconsin's job growth. A federal report issued yesterday said Wisconsin had the nation's 34th-lowest percentage increase in private sector jobs for the year ending in March. At a news conference in Chicago today, Walker said the report covered three months before he faced his final recall vote against Democrat Tom Barrett. He said the uproar over the recall contest made employers uncertain about state policies and they were quote, "basically frozen." Walker won the election by seven-percent -- and the day after, he said there would be quote, "a tremendous new burst in jobs in the coming weeks." The state did create 24-thousand jobs during the year ending in March, but the growth rate was just over half the national average -- including the nine months following the recall effort. Now, Walker says we won't get a true picture of Wisconsin jobs until the numbers come out for all of 2013. That report won't come out until next June -- five months before he stands for re-election. By then Walker said quote, "You are going to see a significant increase." His comments came at a symposium in Chicago by the Federal Reserve Bank.