MacIver News Service | September 16, 2010
[Madison, Wisc…] State officials touted the new job numbers released Thursday, though the growth in state employees exceeded the increase in manufacturing jobs.“Wisconsin has added jobs in the private sector as some areas of the economy have shown improvement,” Secretary of Workforce Development Roberta Gassman said.
While the number of seasonally-adjusted federal and local government employees dropped, the state added 400 employees. Meanwhile the number of Wisconsinites in the manufacturing sector increased by only 300 on a seasonally-adjusted basis.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, the state boasts it has added 1,900 private-sector jobs and saw a reduction of 2,600 jobs in government. The strongest private-sector gains occurred in professional and business services (2,300), education and health care (2,000) and in leisure and hospitality (1,400).
An examination of the raw data reveals a more bleak picture.
Although there are fewer people unemployed now (236,200) than last year (265,900), there are also fewer people employed. Last year at this time 2,835,700 people worked in the State of Wisconsin. This year only 2,829,800 do.
Further data on the employment picture in Wisconsin indicates that in last year 35,600 people left the civilian labor force here, 9,400 in August alone.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, Wisconsin’s preliminary unemployment rate for August was 7.9 percent, which matches the state’s final unemployment rate for July. The national rate increased to 9.6 percent from 9.5 percent.