Democratic candidate for Governor of Massachusetts and current Treasurer Steve Grossman applauded incumbent Governor Deval Patrick for the latter’s part in creating 55,000 new jobs last year.

Said Grossman,

I welcome the encouraging news that Massachusetts created 55,000 new jobs last year, our best performance since 2000. Thanks to Deval Patrick’s relentless optimism during the worst recession in 75 years and his laser-like focus on job creation and economic development, our economy continues to outperform. As the only Democrat running for governor who has spent a lifetime creating jobs, first in our fourth generation family business, and now as state treasurer through our Small Business Banking Partnership, I look forward to building on the Governor’s strong foundation to achieve renewed and dynamic job creation. As his successor, I have set a goal of creating 75,000 to 100,000 jobs annually over the next five years, including a total of 50,000 in manufacturing during that five-year period.

 

As governor, I’ll be in the solutions business everyday, investing in the future to leave no one behind.

Grossman seems optimistic enough in his own abilities to create jobs but his praise of Governor Patrick doing the same strikes me as odd. Taking a look at data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that since Governor Patrick took office in 2007, unemployment in Massachusetts skyrocketed from a respectable 4.5 percent to a high of 8.7 percent in 2009-10 which has now simmered to a still-consequential 7.1 percent as of December 2013.

While creating 55,000 new jobs in 2013 is certainly something to commend, it was done by taking reactionary measures as opposed to those of the proactive variety. For more on Steve Grossman’s job creation and economic policy ideas, check them out on his campaign website here.