WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) — Governor Walker was back in Wausau to talk about the state’s strong economy with the Wisconsin Chamber of Commerce Executives for their annual conference.
Walker highlighted three of his workforce initiatives for the state to keep the economy growing. But there is one major challenge to the state in regards to the economy. “One of our challenges going forward is having enough bodies, having enough people fill those workforce needs. That’s precisely why we went through the three parts of our workforce plan. Continued investments in traditional education and trading. Looking at breaking down barriers and get more of those individuals in the workforce. And then to go out and actively recruit for talent from other places.”
The challenge does have an upside though as wages have been going up at a higher rate. The Governor explains how that has happened for Wisconsin. “Right now we’ve got about 98.000 job openings and we don’t even have that many people unemployed to fill them. So that’s a challenge for us but again it’s a good one. It’s why wages continue to go up at a higher rate than the national rate is.”
These new initiatives would require more funds from the new state budget. Walker discusses how Wisconsin has been able to increase the state budget during his time in office. “We’ve been able to do it by the steady growth of the economy because our reforms are working. And by good fiscal management. And we hope to continue to do that going forward.”
Governor Walker also criticized his opponent Tony Evers for his comments on raising the gas tax in the state and raising property taxes.
