Governor Walker is Still on Pace to Hit 250,000 new Private Sector Jobs by December 31, 2014, but Pace of Job Creation Slowed in April and May.

The Wisconsin DWD released the May job numbers and only 900 new private sector jobs were created during May.  While the Governor is still on pace (barely) to create 250,000 new private sector jobs by the end of his first term, the rate of growth has slowed over the last two months.  There were 21,900 new private sector jobs created in the first three months of the Governor's term, an average of 7,300 per month, but only 4,500 in the last two months, an average of 2,250 per month. The state's unemployment rate in May rose to 7.4% from 7.3% in April, but that was the result of some 4,100 more people recorded as having entered the labor force over the same month, so that the number of unemployed workers rose by some 3,600.  The one-tenth of one percent rise in Wisconsin's unemployment rate paralleled a rise in the national unemployment rate from 9.0% in April, to 9.1% in May.  Again, the small rise in the national rate was attributable to more workers (272,000) re-entering the national labor force.  Thus, even though the number of employed workers nationally rose by 100,000 in May, the influx of new workers seeking jobs exceeded new job creation by 172,000.