Gov. Scott Walker (Photo: WRN)
Layoffs are up, but the governor says more people than ever are working.
Employers notified the state Department of Workforce Development of 10,104 planned layoffs in 2015. That’s a new a high for the administration of Scott Walker – but the Republican governor said it tells only part of the story.
“There’s more people working now, than there have been at any point in the past twenty years, and we want that trend to continue,” Walker said during an event in Chippewa Falls on Monday, citing the state’s “workforce participation rate” of 67.8 percent. “Notices are one thing, actual jobs are a different thing.”
“The challenge is just finding more people to get off the sidelines and get into jobs,” Walker told reporters. “Ask any of the employers here, they’ll overwhelmingly tell you that their biggest challenge these days is actually finding people to fill positions.”
Democratic state Senate minority leader Jennifer Shilling said she’s concerned that the layoffs “aren’t setting off any alarm bells among Republican leaders.”