"Six straight years of Governor Scott Walker and six straight years of below average economic growth in Wisconsin."

MADISON – Today, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released their Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages which shows Wisconsin once again lagged the national average in private sector job growth. This data confirms that Wisconsin has had below average private sector job growth for six consecutive years. Despite millions of tax dollars being spent in tax giveaways to corporate CEOS, Wisconsin’s economy only grew at 0.5% in 2016, well below the national average and private sector wages across the state fell.

This news comes amidst a stalled budget process due to Republicans’ inability to find consensus on how to fund our K-12 schools. Assistant Democratic Assembly Leader Dianne Hesselbein (D-Middleton) released the following statement reacting to the latest data:

“Six straight years of Governor Walker and six straight years of below average economic growth in Wisconsin. The writing is on the wall: Governor Walker’s attempts to grow our economy by handing out tax giveaways to millionaires isn’t working and it’s time for change.

“What’s so disappointing is that these corporate giveaways clearly aren’t helping grow our economy. However, they clearly are hampering Wisconsin’s ability to adequately fund other priorities. The Republicans find themselves at a budget impasse on how to fund our K-12 schools due to their continual financial mismanagement over the last six years. A budget is about priorities and its clear Republicans prefer corporate tax giveaways over investing in our children and the next generation of leaders. Not good.”