Governor Corbett is
committed to creating an economic environment where job creators can flourish,
and, in just one year, the commonwealth
has been making progress. 2011 saw the largest one-year growth in private
sector jobs in Pennsylvania since 1999 with the private sector adding 82,000
jobs.
Other than totally ignoring the condition of the
overall US and state economies since 2008, he forgets that his policies have
actually put tens
of thousands Pennsylvanians out of work since he took office.
So apparently a laid off teacher with three part time jobs at a Walmart, Burger King and a convenience store is better for the jobs number (+3 jobs), than a teacher in a classroom (-1 job).
And
remember this was the week after news broke that Gov. Corbett promised over $1.7
billion in tax breaks for Royal Dutch Shell – yep the same one with over
$31 billion in profits last year.
However, what is most interesting is that just
three days after the governor’s giddy email, the federal Bureau of Labor
Statistics released its report regarding May’s employment numbers. And while
unemployment was unchanged in May,
Pennsylvania actually was among states with the highest number of jobs lost throughout the month -- nearly 10,000 jobs. Only
North Carolina lost more.
So with an unchanged unemployment number, at best
Corbett’s policies are treading water.
If I were Gov. Corbett I’d continually try to
tout the Shell cracker plant as a job creator too, if I lost 10,000 jobs last
month in addition to the tens of thousands of jobs last year.
By my math, $66 million a year (for 25 years)
resulting in 10,000 jobs may buy us one more month of “unchanged” unemployment figures.
