Contact: Rose Lynch, (608) 266-6753
METRO AREAS
Madison – Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development (DWD) Secretary Roberta Gassman today announced that the labor force in many metropolitan areas of the state saw a slight decrease in employment from last year’s November figure. This occurred even though the number of jobs in those metro areas was increasing. This was especially so in the Madison MSA, where the number of people employed dropped by 1,800 over the year, but jobs increased by 3,000; and it was evident in the Milwaukee MSA, where number of people employed dropped by 4,100 even as the number of jobs increased by 9,300. Across all twelve of the state’s metropolitan statistical areas, the number of people employed dropped by 14,300 between November 2004 and November 2005, even as the number of jobs increased by 16,400.
“Job growth over the year was quite strong in the combined MSAs, which increased by more than 16,000 jobs over the year. Job growth was especially strong in the Madison MSA and in the Milwaukee MSA, up 3,000 and 9,300 respectively. Meanwhile, well over one-third of Wisconsin counties have unemployment rates under 4.0 percent, strong indications that Wisconsin is on the right track,” said Secretary Gassman.
COUNTY RATES
Seventy-one of Wisconsin’s seventy-two counties and all twelve metropolitan statistical areas shared in the increased unemployment rates for the state in November. Only Ashland County had a lower unemployment rate in November than it had reported in October. This, in spite of the fact that there were still twenty-six of Wisconsin’s counties with unemployment rates lower that 4.0 percent. Six of the state’s twelve metropolitan statistical areas also had unemployment rates under 4.0 percent.
The counties with the lowest unemployment rates in November included Dane County at 2.9 percent and Buffalo County and Dunn County at 3.4 percent. There were four counties in the state with unemployment rates of 3.5 percent.
There were six counties with unemployment rates of 6.0 percent or higher, led by Menominee at 9.0 percent. Then was Iron County at 6.8 percent, Adams County at 6.4 percent, Florence County at 6.2 percent rate, and Forest and Iron counties with 6.1 percent rates.
The largest increase in unemployment rates between October and November was recorded in Bayfield County, which saw a 2.2 percentage point increase, Door County, which saw a 1.8 percentage point increase, and Vilas County, which saw a 1.5 percentage point increase. Each of these counties would be classified as summer tourism destinations, so the increase in unemployment rates as the tourism season comes to an end is not out of the ordinary.
In general, the counties in the northern part of the state saw the greatest increases, and the southeastern portion of the state saw the smallest increases.
