— This week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with Chytania Brown, president and CEO of Employ Milwaukee, the workforce development board for Milwaukee County.
The organization’s mission is focused on employment and education, helping to connect employers and job seekers and meeting the needs of both groups.
“We offer trainings, we offer customized opportunities with employers, if there’s employers that have a specific need,” she said. “So as a workforce development board, we’re that coordinating, collaborating, monitoring body.”
Brown discusses some of Employ Milwaukee’s programs such as job fairs, funding on-the-job training sessions and transitional job initiatives, as well as how the board helps address workforce shortages in the region.
“Through the funding that we receive from the federal government, we may be able to help offset some of that training cost that the employers have to endure, to skill up these bodies or bring in new bodies to meet that demand,” she said.
While the board currently works with a wide array of employers, Brown says “there’s so many that we have not even touched.” Employ Milwaukee aims to better understand the needs of businesses in the area, including how pandemic-era trends have shifted the employment landscape.
Listen to the podcast here: https://www.wisbusiness.com/2023/wisbusiness-the-podcast-with-chytania-brown-employ-milwaukee/
See the full list of WisBusiness.com podcasts: https://www.wisbusiness.com/category/podcast/
— In the latest episode of “Talking Trade,” Rapport International owner Wendy Pease shares insights on the translation and interpretation industry.
The business offers written translation, spoken interpretations and other communications services for businesses, helping its customers to reach international markets. Pease discusses how technologies such as Google Translate have influenced this work.
“When that first came out, we said ‘Oh, is Google Translate going to put us out of business?’ And it hasn’t,” she said. “It’s actually raised the demand for good translation, because now people understand that you can communicate across languages, and that there’s a way to do it appropriately.”
Pease also comments on the impacts of AI on this field, noting it functions better than Google Translate when applied to certain topics. But she added “you don’t know which one’s going to be better, so you can’t consistently use one” of these services over the other.
“What I’ve heard [from] the experts, the analysts that are really deep-diving into the different technologies that are out there, is that we still need humans involved,” she said. “And it’s getting harder and harder to judge the quality, because there are some companies that will say ‘human-involved’ translation.”
That means the service is using machine learning for translation, and then having a person review it. But if those reviewers lack subject matter expertise, mistakes could “slide by,” Pease said.
Watch the full episode here: https://www.wisbusiness.com/2023/talking-trade-with-wendy-pease-rapport-international/
“Talking Trade” is now available in audio form on Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts. Subscribe and find more episodes here: https://www.wisbusiness.com/category/talking-trade/
— Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Editor Greg Borowski said the publication aims to maintain the value of its print products while also developing its online presence amid declining readership.
Speaking this week to a Newsmaker Luncheon hosted by WisPolitics and the Milwaukee Press Club, Borowski said the physical newspaper remains an important way for readers to get the news. He said a “substantial number” of subscribers still receive the printed product.
“There is a huge value in that, and the company has been working to maintain that and stabilize that as best as possible,” he said Wednesday. “At the same time, it would be foolish to say that’s how we can survive long-term into the future.”
He acknowledged many news consumers will go to a phone app or website before picking up a paper, adding the printed product can’t compete with those alternatives when it comes to breaking news.
“We’ve got to figure out how to manage that transition, which is a big challenge for us, but it’s also a big challenge for every newspaper out there,” he said.
His comments came a day after Urban Milwaukee columnist Bruce Murphy reported the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has lost 81% of its readers over the past two decades. According to his blog post, daily readership of the newspaper has dropped from 257,599 in 2003 to 48,158 in 2022.
Watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UmbpQ3rheE&t=1365s
See the Murphy column here: https://urbanmilwaukee.com/2023/10/17/murphys-law-journal-sentinel-has-lost-81-of-readers/
— Wisconsin’s unemployment rate rose slightly to 3.1% in September, even as the state hit a new record high for total jobs for the third month in a row.
The state Department of Workforce Development yesterday announced total non-farm jobs in Wisconsin reached 3,017,800 last month, marking an increase of 34,500 over the year and 8,300 over the month.
At the same time, construction employment reached 136,400 in September, for an increase of 3,800 jobs over the year and 600 jobs over the month. DWD Chief Economist Dennis Winters attributed that increase in part to federal American Rescue Plan Act dollars going toward infrastructure projects.
“A lot of the construction increase has been in heavy industry, you know, the highways, the sewerage systems, things like that. Some broadband,” he said yesterday during an online briefing. “And so while single-family homes are being hit … by the high interest rates, we’re still seeing pretty good gains everywhere we can in multi-family housing.”
Meanwhile, state unemployment increased from 2.9% in August to 3.1% in September. It remains below the U.S. unemployment rate, which was 3.8%.
And Wisconsin’s labor force participation rate ticked up from 65.7% to 65.8% over the month. The national rate was 62.8% for the month.
Still, Winters said “on the whole, everything is moving in a positive direction.”
See the release: https://dwd.wisconsin.gov/press/unemployment/2023/231019-september-state.pdf
— The winner of this year’s Coolest Thing Made in Wisconsin contest is the Bevi Bottleless Water Dispenser, made by Plexus Corp. in Appleton.
Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce yesterday announced the Plexus product was selected after multiple rounds of voting. The smart water dispenser has filtered, flavored and sparkling water options. According to the WMC release, users have saved more than 400 million single-use plastic bottles to date.
“This product, manufactured at our facility in Appleton, is representative of our global team’s dedication and commitment in bringing that vision to life,” Plexus CEO Todd Kelsey said in a statement.
More than 187,000 votes were cast in the 2023 competition, and more than 100 products were nominated.
See the release: https://www.madeinwis.com/wmc-johnson-financial-group-announce-2023-coolest-thing-made-in-wisconsin/
— WARF has announced Lysa Thoeny as the organization’s new chief financial officer.
Thoeny previously worked as senior director of finance for the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, according to yesterday’s announcement.
WARF CEO Erik Iverson said she brings “exceptional financial acumen combined with expert knowledge of our organization and our partnership with the University of Wisconsin and the Morgridge Institute.”
See the release: https://www.warf.org/news/warf-announces-new-chief-financial-officer-2/
<br><b><i>Top headlines from the Health Care Report…</b></i>
— More than 70% of the people in Wisconsin who have died from COVID-19 were at least 70 years old, according to figures provided by the Department of Health Services.
And DHS is getting nearly $17 million in federal funding for the 988 Wisconsin Lifeline.
<i>For more of the most relevant news on COVID-19, reports on groundbreaking health research in Wisconsin, links to top stories and more, sign up today for the free daily Health Care Report from WisPolitics.com and WisBusiness.com.</i>
Sign up here: http://forms.gle/o8FtqTLviGJPja8C9
#TOP STORIES#
# State bill would require long-term care facilities evicting residents to give more notice
# Priya Parker tells Madison bosses how to make meetings better
# Franklin-based Strauss laying off nearly 200 employees, will sell two product lines
#TOPICS#
# AGRIBUSINESS
– Wolf population increased 4% over last year in Wisconsin and farm conflicts declined
http://wisconsinagconnection.com/story-state.php?Id=936&yr=2023
– Wisconsin farmer explains how he grew pumpkin to nearly 2K pounds
# CONSTRUCTION
– Gervase Rose, an icon of Wisconsin’s electrical contracting industry, dies at 87
– Wangard Partners will build two more apartment buildings near the Locklyn Apartments
# ECONOMY
– Minimum wage hike to $15 would close racial, gender pay gaps
# EDUCATION
– Bucky’s Pell Pathway helping nearly 1,000 students in its first year
# ENVIRONMENT
– Study finds Great Lakes cleanup funding increases property values
# FOOD AND BEVERAGE
– ‘Who doesn’t love an old fashioned?’: Lawmakers seek to make drink official Wisconsin cocktail
# HEALTH CARE
– After losing out in state budget, 988 Wisconsin Lifeline awarded $17 million in federal funds
# LABOR
– Wisconsin Fast Forward grant provides valuable internships
http://wisconsinagconnection.com/story-state.php?Id=938&yr=2023
# LEGAL
– UPS lost a Bay View man’s gun. It’s among thousands that disappear each year.
# MANAGEMENT
– Johnsonville CEO to retire, successor named
# MANUFACTURING
– Appleton-made product named 2023 Coolest Thing Made in Wisconsin
# MEDIA
– WTMJ radio veteran to retire after 25 years with Milwaukee station
# POLITICS
– See the over 100 venues seeking business during the Republican National Convention. More to come.
# REAL ESTATE
– Pewaukee industrial building sold for $25 million
# SMALL BUSINESS
– Village Supper Club in Delavan to reopen soon after major renovation project
# SPORTS
– Ballpark funding plan could change to include ticket surcharges
– Soccer club partners with Milwaukee agency for future USL franchise at Iron District
# TECHNOLOGY
– Proposed battery plant in Chippewa Falls takes big step forward
# TOURISM
– This haunted house in Neenah shows you what it’s like to get buried alive
# TRANSPORTATION
– Milwaukee streetcar expansions stuck at station without new funding source
# PRESS RELEASES
<i>See these and other press releases:
https://www.wisbusiness.com/press-releases/ </i>
WMC, Johnson Financial Group: Announce 2023 Coolest Thing Made in Wisconsin
