From a statement from WisGOP on Governor Evers’ State of the State address.
“From an economic recession to cheerleading for DEI, Governor Tony Evers has dragged Wisconsin down over the course of his tenure. Wisconsinites know our state can do better than the failed policies and uninspired vision of Evers.” — WisGOP Chairman Brian Schimming
Background
- Wisconsin’s GDP declined for three straight quarters in 2023. It was one of only six states in America that reported a decline in GDP growth in Q2.
- …
Apparently, WisGOP is unaware of the definition of a recession (and/or who declares recessions at the state level), They are also unable to reconcile the fact that according to the article referenced, only two quarters of Wisconsin GDP had been reported, so it was not possible to have three consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth in 2023.
Here is the data that ahs been available since December 27.
Figure 1: Wisconsin GDP, bn.Ch.2017$ SAAR (blue). Source: BEA, Dec. 27, 2023.
Inspection of current data indicates that there are not three consecutive quarters of negative growth, now that three quarters of GDP have been reported. As of Q3, Wisconsin GDP is 0.5 ppts above 2022Q4 levels.
Other indicators (which WisGOP did not cite) are more positive.
Figure 2: Wisconsin Nonfarm Payroll Employment (dark blue), Civilian Employment (tan), real wages and salaries, deflated by national chained CPI (tan), GDP (red), coincident index (green), all in logs 2021M11=0. Source: BLS, BEA, Philadelphia Fed, and author’s calculations.
The Baumeister-Leiva Leon-Sims WECI index is 0.55 ppts above trend, for the week ending 12/30. Average real GDP growth over the five years up to 2022 was about 1%, suggesting growth of 1.55% for the year ending 2023.
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