Scott Walker, who talks big about boosting
private-sector jobs in Wisconsin, is so far doing just the opposite: costing
the state private-sector jobs. A Milwaukee think tank puts at 10,000 the number
of jobs that sector would lose were Walker’s plan to cut compensation for public-sector
workers to go into effect.
Yes, you heard right. Cuts in public employment hurt private employment – which is the
exact opposite of the mindless mantra beaten into our heads over the last two
decades: to wit, cuts in public employment help
private employment.
What that mantra ignores is that public-sector pay checks stir
the same economic ripples as do private-sector pay checks. In other words, $50 spent
at the local supermarket from a government payroll has the same impact as $50
spent there from a company payroll. Both equally enable the supermarket to meet
its own payroll. The fewer dollars that come in, whether from public or private
salaries, the less money the supermarket can spend on its payroll and the more
likely the supermarket will have to lay off workers.
Walker is trying to crush the public employees unions in Wisconsin.
He is seeking to eviscerate their bargaining rights. His diabolical plan also includes
unilaterally reducing the take-home pay of union members by having them step up
contributions to their benefits. That element is what an analysis by the
Institute for Wisconsin’s Future
addresses. The analysis also factors in reduction in pay from planned furloughs.
The institute concludes that
Walker’s plan would lead to the the loss of $660 million a year in
economic production in the private sector, eliminate $46 million
in property taxes or shift them to other taxpayers, noticably boost the state’s unemployment rate and wipe out 9,900 private-sector jobs.
Yes, there are a couple of counterarguments, which I put to
the institute’s Jack Norman, the author of the report.
 |
Sure, public employees Well, the idea of the In light of the dire budget situation, doesn’t Walker have no choice but |
| Jack Norman |
If he has no choice,
why then did he give money away in a special session last month through the
enactment of new or expanded tax breaks.
Even before he took office Walker killed a federally
financed high-speed rail project that would have led to thousands of temporary
and permanent jobs for state residents. Despite his highfalutin rhetoric about
creating jobs, Walker is starting his governorship as a job killer, not a job
booster.
Related reading:
“An Update on State Budget Cuts” Center on Budget and Policy
Priorities
