Wisconsin's Unemployment Rate Holds Steady in August

Monday, September 22nd, 2025 -- 11:01 AM

(Steph Conquest-Ware, Wisconsin Public Radio) Wisconsin’s unemployment rate held steady in August even as the number of people employed in the state fell.

According to Steph Conquest-Ware with Wisconsin Public Radio, that’s according to August employment data released by the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development.

The state unemployment rate held steady at 3.1 percent in August, compared to the national rate of 4.3 percent. The number of people employed was down by 6,000 last month compared to July and 40,400 compared to the same time last year.

But at the same time, the number of people who were unemployed fell slightly from July, down by 1,100 last month. Scott Hodek is the section chief of the department’s Office of Economic Advisors.

He said employment numbers are decreasing because people over 65 are retiring. “Baby boomers are aging out of the labor force,” Hodek said. “So that’s kind of underpinning most of the changes overall in the economy and most of the things we’re dealing with.”

He said hiring and job growth is decreasing in Wisconsin and around the country. “The Wisconsin labor market has cooled a bit along with the national economy, but unemployment rates do remain historically low,” Hodek said.

National economic data tells a similar story. Confidence of being able to find a job hit an all-time low in August, according to a survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Center for Microeconomic Data.

Long-term unemployment is rising across the country. The Washington Post reported that one in four workers without jobs have been unemployed for at least six months, that’s nearly 2 million Americans.

Recent college graduates are also having difficulty breaking into the workforce with more than 1 in 10 of all unemployed people being new to the job market.

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