Walker defends his count on jobs progress

Associated Press

Updated: Dec 19, 2012 4:09 PM

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Gov. Scott Walker is not backing down from his accounting of how many jobs Wisconsin has created since he took office in 2011, even though an independent review has disputed it.

Walker said in an interview Wednesday with The Associated Press that he stands by his way of counting total jobs, which relies on 18 months of data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That shows the state has added about 86,000 private sector jobs.

But Politifact gave Walker a "Pants on Fire" rating for using that number, since officials within Walker's administration had cautioned against using partial years' worth of data.

Walker says that isn't perfect, but it's the best available measure. And he concedes the best measure is using a year's worth of numbers.

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