Wisconsin added 5,800 private sector jobs in September but the state’s unemployment rate ticked up to 3.1%, according to the latest figures from the state Department of Workforce Development.
The unemployment rate and job figures are generated from two different surveys. The former comes from a survey of households in the state while data on the number of jobs comes from a survey of businesses.
Wisconsin’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate had been below 3% since the start of the year, dipping as low as 2.4% in April. It was at 2.9% in August.
The number of people classified as unemployed, generally defined as those without a job but also looking for work, reached a low of 72,950 in April and has been climbing over the past five months. In September, 96,600 people were considered unemployed, up by 7,100 from August and by 2,000 from the same time last year.
However, Wisconsin has also seen an upward trend in its labor force participation rate from a low of 64.5% in January to 65.8% in September. The result is a labor force with 66,800 more people in it than the same time in 2022, however, the state’s labor force is still smaller than it was in 2017, the last time there was an uptick in labor force participation in the state.
On the job front, the service sector provided most of the 5,800 new jobs the state added in September. Administrative support and waste management services, in particular, added, 2,900 positions while health care and social assistance added 1,000. From the goods producing side, durable goods manufacturing added 600 positions as did construction.
Over the past year, Wisconsin’s private sector employment is up 27,900, an increase of just under 1.1%. Health care and social assistance has led the way, adding 12,200 new jobs while accommodation and food service has also added 7,400. Manufacturing has lost 3,000 jobs over the same period, led by a 2,300-job decline in durable goods.
