Category Archives: Wisconsin

Dispatches (XIX): Wisconsin Employment Hemorrhaging Continues

Wisconsin’s Department of Workforce Development yesterday released preliminary employment figures for December, and revised figures for November. Both nonfarm payroll employment and private nonfarm payroll employment continue to decline (Figures 1 and 2). Total nonfarm payroll employment is now below levels recorded in January 2011, when Governor Walker took office. The divergence between the national employment trend and Wisconsin’s over the past six months is highlighted in Figure 3.

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Dispatches XVIII: Wisconsin Employment and Activity Indicators

As Governor Walker begins a tour of the state to tout a new jobs plan [0], it might be useful to review economic conditions in Wisconsin. Briefly put, Wisconsin employment (total, private) continues to decline, and Wisconsin’s coincident indicator continues to diverge from the US indicator (as well as most other of the region’s indicators). Hence, points made in previous posts [1] [2] still seem applicable.

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Dispatches (XVII): “Things are continually and gradually moving in the right direction”

That’s the concluding line from the release issued by the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development’s Secretary Reginald Newson. The preceding sentence is “The job numbers are a lagging indicator for economic conditions, and we will continue to move forward.” Here are two graphs, with updated DWD data incorporating revisions, and preliminary data for November, that place those comments in context.

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