LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Kentucky's economy is taking center stage in the race for governor.
This week, state Republicans aligned a poor workforce participation ranking with Gov. Andy Beshear who is vying for reelection.
On the campaign trail, Beshear has touted job growth and historically low unemployment, while GOP nominee for governor Daniel Cameron has expressed concern over the labor force post-COVID 19.
This week, the state's Chamber Center for Policy and Research discussed Kentucky's national ranking in the percentage of people working, sitting 7th lowest in the country.
"By and large we've been pretty consistently in the bottom 10," said Executive Director Charles Aull, who noted this has been the trend in Kentucky for many years -- even prior to Beshear taking office.
Aull also noted Kentucky had about 20,000 fewer workers this May compared to January 2020, which was pre-COVID and when Beshear was just starting in his role as governor.
During his Team Kentucky update, when asked for his thoughts on the statistic and the Republican Party of Kentucky's efforts to highlight it, Beshear pushed back.
"I hope they mention that we had this thing called a pandemic, as well as the Baby Boomer generation being the largest generation on planet Earth and being in their 70s and 80s and having earned a retirement. But listen, you look at our economy, and there's no question it's booming. People can try to cherry pick facts that you can try to throw darts at. [But] we have a buzz that we've never had before, and we shouldn't be talking ourselves down. We should be lifting ourselves up."
On Wednesday, University of Kentucky economics professor Ken Troske told WHAS11 News that labor force participation is an important statistic, but he also noted Kentucky has always ranked poorly in this area.
Ultimately, Troske says a governor's direct actions don't necessarily correlate with the percentage of people working.
"It's been troubling for a long period of time, and the Republican legislators, Democratic legislators, Republican governors, Democratic governors -- haven't done anything to address it," Troske said.
On Wednesday, Beshear also honed in on the record number of jobs filled in the state. In his Team Kentucky update, he said there are 'thousands' of Kentuckians returning to the work force each month.
According to a monthly unemployment report, the state's civilian labor force increased by just over 2,000 people from May to June of 2023.
Meanwhile, in a statement sent to WHAS11 Wednesday, a spokesperson for the Republican Party of Kentucky (RPK) said, "There are fewer people working today than the day Andy Beshear took office."
He continued, "Once Daniel Cameron becomes governor, we will get Kentucky working again."
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