Milwaukee’s local economy “took a step back” in May after positive momentum was seen in April, according to the latest Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce report.
Just seven of the 23 economic factors MMAC tracks saw year-over-year improvement in May, compared to 10 positive indicators in April. And only three of the region’s 10 key sectors added jobs over the year in May, as government jobs grew 2.6% and construction, mining and natural resources employment grew 1.9%.
Over the same period, six of Milwaukee’s major industries lost jobs over the year, with the largest decline seen in information, with a 6.7% drop. Professional and business services lost 3.9% of its jobs over the year, MMAC found.
And manufacturing jobs were down 0.8% over the year, though that’s down from April’s decrease of 1.1% and the year-to-date decline of 1.2% compared to the first five months of the prior year.
“Job indicators continue to be flat, with modest falls in nonfarm jobs and small increases in the metro area unemployment rate,” MMAC Vice President of Economic Research Bret Mayborne said in a statement. “Strength was more evident in local construction, housing and real estate indicators.”
Over the first five months of this year, the overall employment trend for metro Milwaukee “has been largely stagnant,” MMAC says. Nonfarm employment averaged 858,300 in May, marking a 0.4% decline over the year. That decrease is above the 0.2% decline from April, but remains slightly lower than the average decrease so far this year, 0.6%.
As a result of the recent job losses, the region’s seasonally unadjusted employment rate rose 0.2 percentage points over the year to reach 3.4%, the report shows. That’s above the state’s unadjusted rate of 3% for the month, according to the latest DWD release, but remains below the national rate of 3.7%.
Meanwhile, new unemployment compensation claims in the area rose 5.2% over the year, though that’s below the 9.2% increase seen in April.
See the report.
