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Three sitting Republican Governors interested in seeking a promotion to become U.S. President, represent states that have posted well-below average job growth over the past four years. From 2011 to 2015, the United States experienced 8.21 percent job growth. The states governed by Republican presidential hopefuls Scott Walker (WI), Bobby Jindal (LA), and Chris Christie (NJ), saw much lower rates of job growth over the same time period.
Using figures provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics from January 2011 to January 2015, Paul Rosenburg at Salon, noted that Wisconsin, Louisiana, and New Jersey, all experienced very sluggish job growth during the four-year period.
From January 2011 to January 2015, Bobby Jindal’s Louisiana ranked 32nd out of the 50 states for job growth, with 5.4 percent growth. Scott Walker’s Wisconsin ranked 35th with just 4.85 percent growth. Chris Christie’s New Jersey was even more pathetic, ranking 40th, with a mere 4.15 percent increase in jobs over the four-year interval.
Governor Christie can at least try to argue that his failure is a bipartisan mess since Democrats control the New Jersey legislature. Governor Walker and Governor Jindal have no opposition party to share the blame since Republicans control both houses of the legislature in Wisconsin and Louisiana.
Scott Walker, Chris Christie, and Bobby Jindal like to talk about job creation, and they never miss an opportunity to criticize President Obama’s handling of the U.S. economy. However, given that each of these three men governed states that could only dream of matching the U.S. economy’s 8.21 percent job growth rate in the last four years, their criticisms of Obama ring hollow.
Based on the dismal job growth in Louisiana, Wisconsin, and New Jersey, Republican Governors have been job killers rather than job creators when measured against other states, and against the national economy. Serving as chief executive of a state should be a resume boost for politicians seeking the White House. However, if the Governors failed to encourage job growth but instead hindered it, then their poor performance should be a disqualifying strike on their presidential resume.
Governors Walker, Christie, and Jindal have demonstrated that they are job killers, not job creators. None of them should be given a chance to do to America what they did to their home states.
Keith Brekhus is a progressive American who currently resides in Red Lodge, Montana. He is co-host for the Liberal Fix radio show. He holds a Master’s Degree in Sociology from the University of Missouri. In 2002, he ran for Congress as a Green Party candidate in the state of Missouri. In 2014, he worked as a field organizer for Democrat Ann Kirkpatrick’s successful re-election bid in Arizona’s 1st Congressional District. He can be followed on Twitter @keithbrekhus or on Facebook.
