Wisconsin Seeing Record High Employment

Thursday, August 15th, 2024 -- 9:01 AM

(Katherine Loren, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) While the nation as a whole experiences growing unemployment, Wisconsin is seeing "record high" employment and growth in hourly wages, according to a press release issued by Gov. Evers and the Department of Workforce Development.

According to Katherine Loren with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, in June, a total of 3,048,600 people were employed in Wisconsin, according to the press release. At the same time, the state's labor force participation rate was 3.0 points ahead of the national rate of 62.5 percent.

And in February, March, and May of this year, Wisconsin led the nation in "inflation adjusted hourly earnings growth," the release said, citing data from the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics.

That means "wages are going up faster than prices" — a very good thing, said Ross Milton, an assistant professor of public affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who specializes in state and local finance.

According to the DWD, the state average for hourly earnings in May was $33.76. Areas of Milwaukee, Waukesha, and West Allis saw average hourly earnings of $34.97, with Madison close behind at $34.48.

The jobs seeing the most growth in average hourly earnings are private education and health services, according to a DWD spokesperson. Current wages surpass those recorded before the pandemic, said the spokesperson for DWD.

But it's difficult to label the state's economy as better or worse than it was prior to the pandemic, Milton said. "There are sectors of the economy that are worse and aspects that are better," he said. "When you look at these statistics that are intended to encompass everything, things look pretty good."

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