The metro Milwaukee economy continues to struggle as twelve of the 23 economic indicators tracked by the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce declined in April, compared to a year ago.
Employment fell 0.5 percent in April, the fifth consecutive month of year-over-year decline for the area.
“A lack of board-based employment growth across a number of major industry sectors has led to overall weakness in the local nonfarm job trend,” said Bret Mayborne, the MMAC’s economic research director.
The construction, mining and natural resources sector posted the largest job decline in April, downtown 5.9 percent from a year ago.
The sector with the biggest jobs gain in the area was education and health services, which was up 0.9 percent.
The good news is the metro area’s seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate is down 1.2 percentage points from a year ago, and is now at 3.2 percent, its lowest rate since December of 1999.
Home sales fell in the area for the first time in four months, dipping 5.9 percent in April to 1,460.
But new-car registrations in the area rose for the first time in 14 months, posting a 12.2 percent increase to 2,252 in April.
Air passenger traffic at Mitchell International Airport was up 10.2 percent in April to 615,706.
Read more economic data reports at the BizTracker page.
