Big job gains and 2.9% unemployment for Wisconsin in August

Another Wisconsin jobs report dropped with August's figures today. And the topline numbers gave great news.

The Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development (DWD) today announced new record highs for jobs and employment during August 2024, according to preliminary estimates from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is the fourth consecutive monthly record for state employment, highlighting the unprecedented number of workers participating in Wisconsin's economy. During the same time, the number of nonfarm jobs reached a new all-time high.

Preliminary employment estimates for August 2024 showed Wisconsin's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 2.9%, which is 1.3 percentage points below the national unemployment rate of 4.2%. The state's labor force participation rate held steady at 65.5% in August while the national rate stayed at 62.7%.

Place of Residence Data: Wisconsin's unemployment rate was 2.9% in August, 1.3 percentage points below the national rate of 4.2%. Wisconsin's labor force decreased by 100 over the month and decreased 2,100 over the year. The number of people employed increased 2,100 over the month to a record-high 3,051,900 employed.

Place of Work Data: Total nonfarm jobs increased 11,600 over the month and increased 35,300 over the year to 3,047,300 jobs, the highest number on record.

I got a bit triumphant as a result.

New figures show Wisconsin added 11,600 jobs in August, to reach a record high, and unemployment dropped to 2.9%. Gas is under $3 a gallon in most parts of the state. Things are really good here. @chrislhayes.bsky.social @kleinman.bsky.social #economy

— jakemadtown.bsky.social (@jakemadtown.bsky.social) September 19, 2024 at 1:41 PM

On a total job growth scale, it looks very good, recovering all of the 5,900 jobs lost in July and then some. And there were 2,300 jobs added in construction, getting us back to our (seasonally adjusted) highs in March.

And while those figures are strong and true, when I dug into the report, I found it was merely good. That's because there was only 3,600 seasonally-adjusted private sector jobs added overall.

The other 8,000 jobs came in government, with 7,900 of those in state government. If I were to hazard a guess, it would be related to the fact that August 15 came during the survey week for the payrolls report, and new UW System jobs started up at that time, and the models weren't expecting that to show up until September's report. This may well mean we get a significant "loss" of state government jobs in the next report, and a possibly misleading loss of jobs overall.

Still, you can't deny the strength of the household survey and its 2.9% unemployment rate. And it was for a good reason, a gain of 2,100 Wisconsinites identifying as "employed", while the labor force remained largely the same. And the total number of unemployed in Wisconsin has declined by more than 12,000 people in the last 12 months.

When you see reports like this, it makes MAGA/GOPs look pathetic and desperate when they try to claim times are tough in Wisconsin. Because most states would gladly trade places with what we have, and our main job market concern isn't with a lack of job growth, but instead that we need more people to come here to keep the growth going.