The State of Wisconsin’s unemployment rate fell from 6.3 percent in December to 6.1 percent in January, on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to the latest report from the state Department of Workforce Development.
The 6.1 percent unemployment rate is the lowest for the state since November of 2008.
However, the report also indicated that the state added zero private sector jobs in January, on a seasonally adjusted basis. The state added 6,200 government jobs, including 5,100 state government jobs in January, according to the report.
The state’s monthly job and unemployment reports are preliminary and subject to significant revisions.
The DWD also released U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data showing that the state added 106,100 private sector jobs from December 2010, just before Gov. Scott Walker was first sworn in, to December of 2013. When Walker ran for governor he said his policies would help create 250,000 private sector jobs in the state by the end of his first four-year term, which concludes in January of 2015.
