Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development Announces August 2026 Labor Market Estimates

Sunday, September 20th, 2026 -- 10:00 AM

The Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development (DWD) announced the following information for Wisconsin’s labor market, reflecting August 2026 preliminary estimates from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics:

• Employment – There were 3,046,200 people employed in Wisconsin, up 9,300 over the month and up 36,900 over the year.
• Labor Force – The state’s labor force participation increased to 64.7% which is 3.1 percentage points above the national rate of 61.6%.
• Nonfarm Jobs – The total nonfarm jobs in the state were 3,057,300, an increase of 11,800 over last month.
• Unemployment – The state's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate ticked down to 3.2%, which is 0.9 percentage points below the national unemployment rate of 4.1%

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