Job numbers
May 24, 2012
Flailing by Democrats hoping to run Governor Walker out of office on the strength of inaccurate job numbers suggests a couple of things: Nothing that is true would advance their cause, and…well, maybe that says it all.
On Thursday, Democratic operatives were trying to re-inflate the discredited claim that Wisconsin’s losing thousands of jobs every month.
On the slim chance that you’ve missed it, the numbers that persistently indicate job losses are based on surveys of about three percent of Wisconsin employers. Statewide numbers are then fleshed out by estimates, the word you use for “guesses” if you have a degree in statistics.
But an actual count of hiring activity by more than 96 percent of Wisconsin employers shows substantial employment growth—about 33,000 net new jobs since Walker took office.
It’s like global warming: You can believe what the computers predict based on numbers somebody fed into them, or you can believe what the actual record shows. Don’t try believing both; your brain will be insulted.
It seems obvious that a direct count of almost all employers would have the edge in credibility. But another excellent gauge of credibility is the reaction from Democrats. Democratic Party Supreme Genius Mike Tate went so far as to claim the administration committed a criminal act by releasing the numbers before the recall election.
Ever since the Reagan administration, when Republicans have an issue that looks like a game-ender, the Democrats’ fall-back position has been to allege criminality. Sometimes it worked.
But that was before the Democrats’ behavior became so outlandish that people started paying attention.
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