The state Department of Workforce Development released a jobs report on Thursday that said Wisconsin’s unemployment rate in April was 5.8 percent, down one-tenth of a percent from March.
The figure marks the lowest unemployment in Wisconsin since 2008.
On Thursday, Gov. Scott Walker visited a company in Waukesha that has added about 40 jobs at its various locations. Walker said going below 5.8 percent is possible.
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“In fact, we continue to head in the right direction so much so (that) it’s going to keep chipping down, I believe, by later this summer … to about 5.5 percent,” said Walker.
The new jobs report also says that the number of private-sector jobs added last year was down more than 5,000 from 2012 and also below the number added in 2010, the last year of Gov. Jim Doyle’s administration.
Democratic candidate for governor Mary Burke says 2013 was not a very good year for Wisconsin job seekers.
“The latest job numbers for the year 2013 show that we’re not picking up momentum and we’re lagging behind other states,” said Burke. “Out of 10 Midwestern states, we’re ninth in terms of job creation.”
Burke says Walker is about 150,000 jobs short on his promise to help create a quarter-million jobs by 2015. She says her jobs plan would focus partly on education and training to help people get the skills they need in the workplace.
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