7/22/11 – Governor Scott Walker credits his policies, more tourists, and an improved business climate for a big increase in jobs last month. The Republican governor said yesterday that almost 13-thousand private sector jobs were added in June – and the state’s total job increase of 95-hundred reflected half of the national total. Walker said it was driven by quote, “the rebirth of tourism.” Analysts note that tourist jobs are often temporary, with low pay and little-or-no fringe benefits. But the governor says tourism has become a year-round industry. Kurt Bauer, head of the Wisconsin Manufacturers-and-Commerce group, says business leaders both here and nationally like what’s happening in the state. A new tracking group, Badger-Stat-Dot-Org, says the state has a long way to go to return to its total employment before the recession. Wisconsin lost 171-thousand jobs in the Great Recession – and Feldman says about 50-thousand of those jobs have come back, including those announced yesterday.
