A Vice-Presidential Nominee With a Worker-First Agenda

Tim Walz is seen as a champion for workers. But how have they actually done under his leadership? Pretty well.

by Aaron Rosenthal

August 12, 2024


Julia Nikhinson/AP Photo

Democratic vice-presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz meets union members during a campaign rally at UAW Local 900, August 8, 2024, in Wayne, Michigan.

https://prospect.org/politics/2024-08-12-tim-walz-vice-president-worker-first-agenda/

Since being picked as Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has been lauded as a champion for workers. Unions have cheered the selection and Harris’s introduction at their first campaign rally together specifically called out Walz’s efforts on behalf of working families.

As the national audience continues to dig through his record, it’s worth asking the question: How did working Minnesotans do during Walz’s time as governor? Like Walz’s fellow teachers ask students to do every day, I checked the math.

Let’s start with jobs. Following a dramatic decline during the pandemic, Minnesota’s total employment reached a historically high three million jobs in 2023. Underscoring the strength of the state’s labor market, unemployment currently stands below its pre-pandemic level at 2.9 percent, more than a full point below the national average. Further analysis shows that this low unemployment rate is not being driven by people giving up on working; Minnesota’s 68.3 percent labor force participation rate ranks fifth in the nation.

Building on this success, Walz has signed several new policies into law to continue boosting employment. These include historic investments in infrastructure and mass transit, workforce development programs for nurses to help meet the state’s future health care needs, and a clean-energy agenda that will put Minnesotans to work combating climate change.

FULL story at link above.