…as the Great Recession drags on, that is indeed the question: What can Madison really do to grow its economy and generate enough jobs to keep the region thriving? For an area formerly insulated from economic realities thanks to the University of Wisconsin and state government, it?s a critical discussion.
Over the past five years, the Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area, which comprises Dane, Columbia and Iowa counties, has lost nearly 11,000 private-sector jobs, or more than 4 percent of the area?s total non-government positions. From high-tech medical equipment maker TomoTherapy to high-end appliance maker Sub-Zero Freezer, few local companies have been spared the pain, whether it?s layoffs, pay freezes or threats to send jobs to other states.
And while there were still 84,400 government jobs here as of June 2010, roughly one-fourth of the total employment in the area, that may change too. With politicians of all stripes vowing to cut spending ? Democratic candidate for governor Tom Barrett even boasts about “putting Madison on a diet” ? the number of public jobs here could well drop.
