Wisconsin's Economy Remains Strong

Thursday, October 26th, 2023 -- 12:00 PM

(By Joe Schulz, Wisconsin Public Radio) Despite global pressures in the last few years, Wisconsin’s economy remains strong, thanks in large part to the work ethic of its labor force.

According to Joe Schulz with Wisconsin Public Radio, that was the message from state officials at the 2023 Wisconsin Economic Summit Monday in Appleton, hosted by the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp.

While officials said the state economy is healthy overall, it does face long-term threats that could hamper future growth. The event came after the state Department of Workforce Development, or DWD, announced last week Wisconsin hit a new record for total non-farm jobs in September, as the unemployment rate remained near record lows at 3.1 percent.

At the summit, DWD Secretary Amy Pechacek said it was the third month in a row the state broke the total non-farm jobs record. "Wisconsin is on a record-breaking economic streak," she said. "We are continuing to move full speed ahead."

She said the state has also broken its low unemployment record three separate times in the last year, and consistently has a better labor force participation rate than the national metric.

John Koskinen, chief economist for the Wisconsin Department of Revenue, said the strength of Wisconsin's economy comes from its workforce. He said 85 percent of Wisconsin’s prime working age population, defined by economists as people between the ages of 25 to 54, is engaged in the workforce.

"We prefer to work," Koskinen said. "We are among the states that have the highest work preference." As a product of the state ranking highly for labor force participation, Koskinen said the state had the third-lowest poverty rate in the country as of 2021.

But that number has been updated, and the state is now the "second-lowest in terms of the overall poverty," he said. And, Koskinen said, he believes Wisconsin's working women give the state an edge.

In 2022, Wisconsin women had a labor force participation rate of 59.3 percent, while women nationally had a 56.8 percent rate, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Roughly 75 percent of families with children have both parents working, which gives the state an advantage in terms of family income and combating child poverty, he said.

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