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Trouble in the WI Labor Market
Wisconsin’s unemployment rate continues to hold steady, but the jobs picture in the state is not great.
The Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development on Wednesday released the latest jobs report for the state.
It shows the unemployment rate held steady at 3.1%, but the number of people working fell once again.
DWD's report shows that Wisconsin’s labor force dropped by 11,400 jobs over the month, and is down by 51,500 jobs through September of this tear.
DWD says just over 3 million people are working in Wisconsin.
Wisconsin's unemployment rate is below the national rate, which was 4.4% in September. And DWD made a point to point that out.
"Wisconsin’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.1%, which is 1.3 percentage points below the national unemployment rate," DWD noted.
Wisconsin's unemployment rate hasn't changed in a month. The state has been at 3.1% unemployment since July. In fact the state has been near the level since January. Wisconsin's highest unemployment rate was 3.3% April and May.
But the jobs picture in the state is more than just a low unemployment rate.
The DWD noted that Wisconsin's labor participation rate has declined every month so far this year.
The labor participation rate was 65.9% in January, and is now down to 64.5%.
The number of people with jobs saw a similar every-month decline. Wisconsin had 3,082,900 people with jobs back in January. In September, DWD reported that number fell to 3,035,256 people with jobs.
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