New revisions show 2022's unemployment info as better in Wisconsin, with 2023 not as good.

We received some updated unemployment data for Wisconsin dating back to 2019. These revisions tell an interesting story for Wisconsin’s recovery from the COVID cutbacks of 2020.

For 2019 and 2020, our losses and recovery from the pandemic's shutdowns and changes isn't much different - slightly higher labor force and employment (labor force up 11,300, employment up 6,200), and 2020's year-end unemployment rate went from 4.8% to 4.9%.

The last 3 years had more significant monthly changes. What was originally reported as a drop in both labor force and the number of Wisconsinites working for much of 2022 now has little change at all, and 2023's increases for both employment and labor force aren't as large. But we've mostly ended up in the same place today.

This also is reflected in revisions to the number of Wisconsinites that were out of work. The number of unemployed didn't fall as fast in late 2021 and early 2022, but it also continued to go down through early 2023, unlike earlier reports indicated. Likewise, the number of Wisconsin unemployed rose for most of 2023, before leveling off in November and December.

And the changes in the unemployment rate tell a similar story, with the low of 2.6% now being reported in February, with a slow but steady rise happening over the next 8 months as all 3 parts of the household survey went up, before flattening out and staying at a rounded 3.4% for the last part of the year (sitting at 3.35% for December).

This report also listed annual averages for unemployment and the employment-population ratio that measures how much of Wisconsin’s total population is actually working. And we are continuing the tradition of this state having a high amount of its people in the work force, finishing 10th out of the 50 states.

We had previously seen evidence of good population growth and migration into Wisconsin for 2022 and 2023, so perhaps that’s being reflected in the higher work force, with the majority of those people finding jobs. And maybe 2022 and 2023 marks some progress on the ability to balance child care and other home life stresses with the need for employees and workers in need of income, although we still have a ways to go.

Later this week, we will see how the payrolls side of the jobs data has been revised to account for new and more refined information. When I did a check of the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) last week, I didn’t see much reason for a notable change either way.

We’ll see for sure on Thursday, along with what January’s jobs figures were for Wisconsin. But it indicates to me that we need to keep working to hold onto the gains we've had in the 2020s, and keep improving our competitiveness to continue to retain and attract people to what can still be a great state.