Wisconsin lost 1,600 private sector jobs in October and the state’s labor force participation rate continued to fall, according to the latest data released by the state Department of Workforce Development.
Private sector employment in the state is up 54,600 since October 2021, however that gain of 2.2% trails the national growth rate of 4% over the same period.
The decline in private sector employment from September to October was driven primarily by the health care and social assistance sector, which lost 4,200 jobs. Administrative support and waste management services also lost 3,200 jobs.
Those losses were partially offset by a gain of 2,400 job in professional, scientific and technical services, an additional 1,700 jobs in durable goods manufacturing and 1,800 new jobs in construction.
Wisconsin also saw its unemployment rate increase from 3.2% to 3.3%, still lower than the national rate of 3.7%.
At the same time, Wisconsin’s labor force participation rate continued a downward trend, dropping three-tenths of a point to 65.3%.
In the past year, Wisconsin’s labor force participation has declined 1.1 percentage points while the national participation rate is up a half point. Wisconsin is still three percentage points ahead of the national rate, which was 62.2% for October.
Still, Wisconsin’s labor force decreased by 15,600 from September to October and 36,600 from October 2021.
The number of people classified as unemployed is only up by 2,800 since October 2021 while overall employment is down 39,300.
The divergence in overall employment and private sector job counts, which were up by 54,600, comes in part from the tools used to measure each data point.
Overall employment and the unemployment and labor force participate rates are calculated by a survey of households while private sector and industry specific data come from a survey of employers.
