Milwaukee-based Joy Global Inc. reported fiscal first quarter net income of $142.1 million, down slightly from $142.5 million in the same period a year ago.

There is apparent unanimity among Wisconsin business executives and policymakers that the state faces a "skills gap:" thousands of jobs going unfilled because too few Wisconsin workers possess the skills, education, and training for them. This skills mismatch, it is argued, is the central reason why unemployment remains high, even as job vacancies remain unfilled.

MillerCoors and the Milwaukee Brewers announced a multi-year sponsorship renewal that will keep Miller Lite as the team's exclusive beer sponsor.

At first glance, it would seem counterintuitive to think that Milwaukee, in the midst of a cold, snowy Wisconsin winter, would be a national hotspot for solar energy. Yet, that is precisely what is happening.

Canton, Ohio-based LEL Operating Company, the parent company of Superior Dairy Inc., has submitted a $5.5 million bid on the now-shuttered Golden Guernsey Dairy Plant in Waukesha, according to company trustee Charlie Stanziale Jr.

Stoughton-based Nelson Global Products Inc. has acquired Water Works Manufacturing located in Cambridge, Minn.

Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele announced a Job Fair for Military Veterans will be held on Thursday, March 7, at the Milwaukee County War Memorial Center from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Bold, dynamic and innovative companies and corporate leaders are invited to be nominated for the 2013 Bravo! Entrepreneur and IQ (Innovation Quotient) Awards.

Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce read with great interest the recent Milwaukee Biz Blog by History Professor Marc Levine from UW-Milwaukee. He claims, based on “major academic studies as well as data from the U.S., Wisconsin, and Milwaukee labor markets” that there is no evidence to support the skills gap thesis. We read the report, and waited to get to the part where the professor talked to manufacturers. Unfortunately, he did not.

The Chicago Loop long has been one of the world's greatest job centers, of course. For much of its history, though, downtown emptied out after office hours. And as the city aged and its population declined, the suburbs rose to become the preferred home to generations of young families and the tollways became employment corridors of their own.

Lawmakers in Washington have done what previously seemed unthinkable: They have allowed sequestration to mindlessly cut spending across the board rather than agree to a coherent deficit-reduction plan.

The Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra (MYSO) has exceeded its goal of $2 million within Fran's Fund, a scholarship fund created in 2008 to grant music opportunities to underprivileged kids in southeastern Wisconsin.