Illinois Adds 30,000 Jobs As Wisconsin Sees Nation's Biggest Payroll Losses In October

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn finally has some political ammunition to use the next time Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker mocks the Land of Lincoln's economy. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Illinois added the most jobs in the nation in October, while Wisconsin saw a "significant decline" in employment.

As the Capitol Fax Blog pointed out Monday, Wisconsin lost 9,700 jobs in October compared with their September numbers. The report came out just weeks after Walker, who eliminated collective bargaining rights in his state by saying it would improve the state's economy, spoke at Chicago's Union League Club about his alleged success "taking on powerful political interests" in Wisconsin.

More on Wisconsin's numbers from Bloomberg News:

Wisconsin saw a job increase in the leisure and hospitality sector, according to the bureau's seasonally adjusted data.

But there were declines in several other sectors: construction; manufacturing; trade, transportation and utilities; financial activities; professional and business services; education and health services, and government.

Despite adding 30,000 jobs in October, the news still isn't great in Illinois. Illinois' job growth appears to have encouraged many people who had stopped looking for work to resume job searches, increasing the size of the labor force. That caused the unemployment rate to rise to 10.1% even with the new jobs.

“Illinois' economy adding 30,000 jobs is encouraging during this challenging period of economic recovery,” Illinois Department of Employment Security Director Jay Rowell told Crain's Chicago Business. “Consumer confidence is critical to a growing economy, and a growing economy creates jobs.”

As for Wisconsin's floundering numbers, Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development told Channel 3000 they didn't think it would be a trend.

"I would say it's not going in a direction we would like it," Dennis Winter, a department economist, told the station. "We started out this year doing very well, through June, and we're still up some 20,000 private-sector jobs since the first of the year. So, if you take it in that context too, we're doing pretty well."

Comments

[IronMIke500]

12:17 PM on 01/28/2012

For the year Illinois began 2011 with 6.03M jobs and ended it with 5.97 for a loss of 60,000 jobs.
Wisconsin began the Year with 2.81M and ended it with 2.83M for a gain of 20K jobs. So one month is not a good sample.
Of course for real job growth there is TEXAS which began the year with 11.2M and ended it with 11.4M or a gain of 200K jobs .

[MiddleMolly]

12:38 PM on 12/09/2011

As the article says, Wisconsin was last in job growth in October, the last month for which stats are available. But Wisconsin was also 48th in jobs over the last three months and 41st in job growth in 2011 to date, and 43rd year over year. So it's not just one month... It is a pattern. Wisconsin was definitely a job "turkey" in November.

http://mollysmiddleamerica.blogspot.com/2011/11/which-states-were-job-winners-losers.html

[Howard53545]

04:41 AM on 12/06/2011

Another reason to get Scotty and his Koch boys out of office NOW

[Realist1965]

11:39 PM on 12/05/2011

anybody who thinks IL is doing well is smoking some serious stuff. our futures as indebted taxpayers mirror that at the federal level.

[thisisntme]

12:29 AM on 12/06/2011

If you think your post makes any sense you are smoking serious stuff. The point of the article is to show that Illinois grew 30K jobs, that's good no matter how you look at it. Especially compared to Scott Walker's Wisconsin and his desire to raid our state.

[samuraifrog37]

09:41 AM on 12/06/2011

Good job and thanks....where did this guy get his serious stuff anyways? Just asking.

[Marcusarilius]

11:17 PM on 12/05/2011

When Walker is finally gone, WI and the rest of the nation will be able see the truth and extent of the damage done in human lives and financial devastation. The real question is, when will independents and Republicans finally Get It so as Not to vote against their best interests?

[tjconkster]

09:15 PM on 12/05/2011

Goes to show what happens when we don't Occupy the Voting Booth....RepubliCorp takes over and kills the working man / woman...

[sjcarl]

08:17 PM on 12/05/2011

Go Illinois! On Wisconsin! - recall Walker!

[martigras]

07:51 PM on 12/05/2011

A new freedom of information query also showed that Walker deliberately lied about job creation in Wisconsin last summer. He had emails from his aides that clearly showed what he said was not true and that he was far overstating job growth.

[annadams]

08:30 PM on 12/05/2011

Didn't know that. Thanks for letting us know. Your story, Walker lying to Wisconsin people on purpose and making up fabricated job numbers, should be headline news and on national television news.

[bigmaddy]

07:04 AM on 12/06/2011

Perry lied about the jobs in Texas also. Noticed the jobs the were created in wisconsin was low income service jobs,while losing the good jobs.

[MiddleMolly]

12:41 PM on 12/09/2011

State job numbers are online, and it is unclear how much a government official can mess with those numbers. The "final" jobs numbers are based on reports that employers file with the state and federal authorities, and employers taxes are taken from those reports.

[JFaye]

07:25 PM on 12/05/2011

Wondering if these statistics take into account the number of people who decide to start a business? I know several people who have elected to travel the road of an entrepreneur.

[mcartri]

06:29 PM on 12/05/2011

Governor Brady...Illinois could have had its own Governor Walker, as did PA, IN, FL, OH, NJ and other right wing state government take overs. Thank goodness Illinois didn't turn to the 1% for directions to pillage the 99%. I'm thankful we have, though imperfect, Gov. Pat Quinn.

[The 5 Percent]

06:41 PM on 12/05/2011

Actually a Governor Brady would have been the best thing for this state because the people who vote democratic might have awakened and realized how much the republican agenda is the same as the democratic agenda. Both parties want austerity but the republicans are more nasty about it. A perfect example is Rahm Emanuel. He is a corporatist that has hoodwinked uninformed democrats and made them believe he is for the good of the people. People in this state will not wake up until a republican kicks them in the collective behind. Democrats in this state have been horrible but democratic voters keep voting them in be cause they only see party and not the deeds of these money hungry politicians!!

[greenie 61]

07:16 PM on 12/05/2011

No, it's because many of us haven't forgotten about the corrupt Ryan administration. As for Emanuel, I don't disagree with your characterization of him, but the whole state doesn't get to vote for the mayor of Chicago.

[sjcarl]

08:19 PM on 12/05/2011

Well, you have to choose between 2 candidates/parties. Illinois made the better choice. Wisconsin made the wrong choice.

[TommyObama]

12:58 AM on 12/06/2011

Don't forget your buddies across the lake: MI elected a right winger, too.

[mcartri]

02:25 AM on 12/06/2011

May the Thumb of Michigan strike the eye of the GOP nihilists in Lansing.

[Meggie]

06:22 PM on 12/05/2011

I don't even fill up my car in WI anymore. And if I were looking to start a business that could be run in any state, why in the world would I go to WI? Their educational system is being destroyed all across the state. An often overlooked part of snottwalker's big disasterous legislation is the fact that he can take all of WI's state-run energy facilities and hand them off to whomever he wants with absolutely no bids and no restriction. None of that sounds stable.

[local21]

06:15 PM on 12/05/2011

The people and the market have spoke, Walker has to go.

This FIB has the progressive cheesehead's back.

[mcartri]

06:30 PM on 12/05/2011

Walker is the 1%'s sock puppet, as are all the right wing extremists in other state governments.

[blurredmolly]

06:49 PM on 12/05/2011

x2

[reron]

06:03 PM on 12/05/2011

While the bickering makes for a good read the important point might be to study the 2 states. Now that may change now that the recall is on, but you have 2 states sitting next to one another taking 2 completely different paths in this economic downturn. Austerity, a return to the unfettered capitalism of a century plus ago, purging unions and eliminating regulation versus continued support of public institutions, tax increases, investing in infastructure and a more general progressive outlook. No doubt that Illinois has a pile of debt to eliminate that may suffocate them in the end. But watching these 2 states will be interesting.

[MWA1111]

05:20 AM on 12/06/2011

The only reason Quin isn't like Walker in the recall campaign is that the IL residents don't have the luxury of being able to initiate one.

[Soylent Green is coming]

05:22 PM on 12/05/2011

Oh Lord, with that head line cue the tea drinking, knuckle dragging, birther, flat Earth home schoolers.

[WI Patriot]

05:06 PM on 12/05/2011

Illinois Unemployment - 10.1%
US Unemployment - 9.0%
Wisconsin Unemployment - 7.7%


Not much else to say.

[John MC]

05:22 PM on 12/05/2011

Curious, if 6 months from now Illinois Unemployment numbers were lower then Wisconsin would you say Illinois is on the right track?

[MWA1111]

05:22 AM on 12/06/2011

Only if it were actually getting lower by actual new jobs and not by people giving up.

[mat3]

08:48 AM on 12/06/2011

I would ask has hell frozen over?

[westytx]

05:27 PM on 12/05/2011

Except that Illinois has a hellava lot more people than Wisconsin to create jobs for. But then, math, or common sense, has never been a strong suit of the right-winger crowd.

Guess that's how GOP created the Greatest Recession since the Great Depression in 2007.

[MWA1111]

05:24 AM on 12/06/2011

Percentages are what they are. Did you also discount the HP story about National unemployment dropping below 9% considering it was based on people giving up?