Good Wis jobs report for May, and April looks a lot better

Another Wisconsin jobs report came out this afternoon, and it was largely steady as it goes.

Place of Residence Data: Wisconsin's unemployment rate remained at 2.9% in May, 1.1 percentage points below the national rate of 4.0%. The labor force gained 900 workers over the month for a total of 3,140,500 workers. The number of people employed hit a new high in May, with a total of 3,048,000 employed. DWD last announced a record number of people employed in March 2024.

• Place of Work Data: Total nonfarm jobs decreased 1,500 over the month and increased 28,700 over the year to a total of 3,037,400 jobs. Private sector jobs added 2,300 over the month, hitting a record high 2,630,300 jobs. DWD last announced a private sector nonfarm job record in March 2024. "Wisconsin's economy continues to gain momentum, setting new records in state employment and private jobs," said DWD Secretary Amy Pechacek. "The state's unemployment rate remains below the national rate, as well. These numbers validate what we know is true: Wisconsin residents are eager to work, employers are eager to employ them, and DWD endeavors to support sustainable employment opportunities for all.

As alluded to in the Place of Work Data, the only reason there wasn't a gain in total jobs was because of a loss of 4,200 jobs in state government. And that's likely because UW graduation was on Saturday May 11, and the week of the jobs report surveys started on Sunday, May 12. So I'd expect a sizable seasonally-adjusted "gain" in state govt jobs next month to make up for that.

Even better news is that April's jobs gains were revised up by 3,600 (from 900 to 4,500), leaving us up more than 15,000 jobs since the end of last year, and with over 100,000 since the start of 2022.

Another good sign is that manufacturing has recovered all of their losses from February, and the number of jobs in that sector is back to where it was more than a year ago.

In addition, after 10 months of a plateaued level of jobs in Leisure and Hospitality, it had a seasonally adjusted increase of 3,400 for May, taking it to a new post-COVID high.

The unemployment rate staying below 3% in Wisconsin is also a great sign, although I'll note that the labor force is only up 9,600 in the last year, and employment only up 6,500 in that time, so we need to keep attracting people to come here if we wish to grow much further.

Overall, this is a good report, and Wisconsin's jobs market is still in a very good place. Seems like something we'd want to keep building on for the rest of the year.