Wisconsin GOP blasts Biden on manufacturing job losses, but its numbers are off

When President Joe Biden was in Milwaukee on March 13, Brian Schimming, chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, issued a statement saying:

"On Joe Biden’s watch, Wisconsin has lost 6,000 manufacturing jobs and 455 dairy farms in the last year. Instead of paying us a visit to brag about his abysmal record, the President should be offering working families an apology for Bidenomics."

That sounds like a lot. Are those numbers accurate? 

Schimming’s statement on the manufacturing jobs included a link to a graph from the St. Louis Federal Reserve that shows the number of employees in manufacturing over time. 

When we clicked on the graph and went back to February 2023, as the statement claimed, it showed Wisconsin having roughly 481,600 manufacturing workers. When you look at the most recent data, January 2024, it showed 479,300 people working in manufacturing.

So according to the St. Louis Fed, Wisconsin lost 2,300 manufacturing jobs. Far from the 6,000 that was claimed. 

When we asked the Republican Party of Wisconsin about this, it said part of the statement was wrong and the timeline should have been September 2022 to September 2023. 

(In September 2022, Wisconsin had roughly 484,300 manufacturing workers and a year later the state had 477,000 workers in manufacturing. During that time Wisconsin lost 7,300 manufacturing jobs.)

Beyond that, the decline in manufacturing is a long trend fueled by many forces.

The St. Louis Fed has data on manufacturing jobs in Wisconsin going back to 1990. In that time, manufacturing jobs in Wisconsin were at its peak in March 2000 with 600,000 manufacturing employees. 

Recessions in the early 2000s and 2008 had a major impact on manufacturing. In January 2010, manufacturing jobs were at their lowest in the state with 426,200 workers. 

The loss of manufacturing jobs has lasted through multiple presidential administrations from both parties. 

But since 2010, manufacturing has rebounded to 484,900 in June 2019. In 2020, just before the coronavirus pandemic struck, manufacturing jobs were at 477,300 in March. A month later, the number was down to 439,700 jobs. 

In August 2022, manufacturing jobs were at 484,300, completely recovered from pre-pandemic times. Even the current number of 477,000 jobs is near where the industry was before the pandemic. 

So, Skimming was wrong on the numbers and wrong to blame Biden exclusively.

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stated on March 27, 2024 in Public appearance

“We passed 27 bills last year, which is the fewest since the Depression.”

The Republican Party of Wisconsin provided a link to the Dairy Producer, which cited a report from the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection that said the state lost 455 dairy farms in the last year. 

The department confirmed the farm losses are correct. 

On Jan. 1, 2023, the state had 6,116 dairy farms and on Jan. 1, 2024, the state had 5,661 dairy farms or 455 fewer.

So the state GOP is right on that number, but like the manufacturing jobs, the number of dairy farms in Wisconsin has been declining for decades through multiple presidential administrations.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service, in 1992, Wisconsin had 30,156 dairy farms. 

Multiple factors have affected dairy farms. Foreign markets have created global competition for dairy products, the industry depends on immigrant labor while the country wrestles with border policies, and farmers are faced with a choice of getting bigger or losing their farms.

However the number of dairy cows in the state is about 1.27 million and has been at or near that number since 2001. Essentially meaning the smaller farms are selling their cows to larger farms and going out of business while dairy production remains fairly steady.. 

In a 2019 visit to Wisconsin, former President Donald Trump’s agriculture secretary, Sonny Perdue, told reporters: 

"Now what we see, obviously, is economies of scale having happened in America — big get bigger and small go out. ... It's very difficult on economies of scale with the capital needs and all the environmental regulations and everything else today to survive milking 40, 50, 60 or even 100 cows, and that's what we've seen."

Schimming criticized Biden on manufacturing jobs and dairy industry, saying:

"On Joe Biden’s watch, Wisconsin has lost 6,000 manufacturing jobs and 455 dairy farms in the last year. Instead of paying us a visit to brag about his abysmal record, the President should be offering working families an apology for Bidenomics."

On manufacturing, he is wrong. Wisconsin lost manufacturing jobs but not near the amount in the claim. On the dairy farms, he is correct. 

But on both points, he is mistaken in placing the blame solely on Biden – manufacturing jobs and dairy farms have been trending downward for years through multiple presidential administrations from both parties. And, the daily industry — when measured differently — still appears strong in Wisconsin. 

So we rate this claim Mostly False.