Low unemployment does not = growth in Wisconsin. And WMC/WisGOP are big reasons why

Sometimes a low unemployment rate is not all it is cracked up to be. This article from Governing magazine talks about how many states are struggling with a lack of available workers these days.

…New Hampshire’s unemployment rate has been under 3 percent for more than three years. It dipped below that threshold in December 2015 and, as of this writing, has held steadily at 2.5 percent, the second-lowest rate in the country -- tied with Hawaii and a tad higher than Iowa.

But that low unemployment rate has caused its own set of problems. The big issue is a labor shortage. Companies are having a hard time finding new employees, even if they offer higher wages and benefits. In New Hampshire, the shortage is the result of an aging population, slow migration, and mismatches between the skills companies are looking for and those job applicants possess. “With population growth at a near standstill in comparison to earlier decades, the pipeline of young people entering the labor [market] in large enough numbers to replace those leaving the labor force is unlikely,” state officials warned in a workforce analysis last year. “More innovative and creative ways of attracting labor will be needed for the foreseeable future.”

New Hampshire isn’t the only state where short-term booms have raised uncomfortable questions about the long-term health of the economy. In 2018, 10 states simultaneously had unemployment rates lower than 3 percent, a phenomenon not matched since the final days of the dot-com bubble in 2000. But in almost every one of those states’ capitols, officials are fretting about the health of their economy and the problems that need to be solved, whether it’s expanding their workforce, attracting more affordable housing or moving away from the boom-and-bust cycles of oil markets or agricultural industries.

One of those states is Wisconsin, which had unemployment decline from 4.2% to a 2.9% over the last 3 years measured, but has had job growth well below the US rate over that same time period. A main reason why that situation exists is Wisconsin stagnant labor force, which crested in mid-2017 and now is barely any more than it was in February 2016.

Related to that, the New York Times looked at President’s Trump claim that the country was “full” with population, and instead found the exact opposite to be true in most places in America. Included in that Times article was a map that showed the change in the amount of workers aged 25-54 between 2007 and 2017.

If you look at that map, you’ll notice that exactly TWO of Wisconsin’s 72 counties grew in the number of people ages 25-54 between 2007 and 2017 – Dane and Eau Claire. Meanwhile, most counties (and practically every county north of Highway 29) had double-digit declines.

The Times article mentions how a declining population of workers and people can lead to serious problems when it comes to a community maintaining its quality of life and level of services.

A particular fear, said John Lettieri, president of the Economic Innovation Group, is that declining population, falling home prices and weak public finances will create a vicious cycle that the places losing population could find hard to escape.

He proposes a program of “heartland visas,” in which skilled immigrants could obtain work visas to the United States on the condition they live in one of the counties facing demographic decline — with troubled counties themselves deciding whether to participate….

The right-wingers at Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce have also expressed concerns over Wisconsin’s declining working-age population,and also have backed a method to get more immigrants into the state to live and work. WMC president Kurt Bauer told the Waunakee Chamber of Commerce this week how the state’s limited work force is a growing issue for state businesses.

Bauer said the trend has impacted Wisconsin’s business growth, as WMC members say they would like to expand but cannot find the workers.

“This is what we spend most of our time on at WMC,” Bauer said, noting that WMC is the state manufacturers association, Chamber of Commerce and the state safety council, representing 3,800 businesses in all sectors and all sizes.

Growing the number of state workers will take retention, attraction and reintegration. Exposing young people to jobs in the state is important, Bauer said, adding that high schools usually gear students toward preparing for college.

“We need to make sure young people are exposed to the trades,” he said, explaining currently, a stigma is attached to those careers.

Hey Kurt. Know what would lead to “retention, attraction and reintegration”? Paying people in the trades a competitive wage and having Wisconsin be a state worth living in. WMC has actively lobbied and spent millions of campaign dollars getting politicians to prevent both of these things, especially via wage suppression measures like right-to-work.

The result? Wisconsin pays the lowest wages in manufacturing in the Midwest.

Average weekly wage, manufacturing Sept 2018
Minn $1,269
Ill. $1,261
Mich $1,214
Ind. $1,131
Ohio $1,127
Iowa $1,103
Wis. $1,078

Gee, you want to know why people don’t want to come here to work in the trades, Kurt? Maybe because they can get better work and better pay in a lot of other places and fields. You’d think “business experts” in this state would know that simple concept by now.

WMC also backed tax cuts for the rich and corporate that have prevented investments in Wisconsin roads and schools. They have also encouraged a “bigger is better” agricultural system that drives out small farmers, and actively tried to deregulate any form of environmental protection, no matter how undrinkable it makes the water or how undesirable it makes those nearby communities be.

WMC also cheered on Scott Walker when he turned down $23 million in stimulus funds that would have set up rural broadband in much of Wisconsin 8 years ago, then complain about a lack of infrastructure to keep people in rural Wisconsin. And Congressman Sean Duffy was also working that two-step this week.

Thank you President @realDonaldTrump for your support of 5G and your help to connect Rural America to the digital economy! https://t.co/8QtFHCegkp

— Sean Duffy (@RepSeanDuffy) April 12, 2019

Funny, I don't remember Sean from the Real World criticizing Walker for keeping broadband from being installed in the 715 in 2011. What changed, Sean?

WMC has looked the other way as Republicans in the Legislature have actively passed socially regressive legislation on reproductive rights, constantly blow racist dog-whistles to the point that Wisconsin has become one of the worst states in America for black people, and devalued all forms of public education.

Many people get the hint, and don’t want to live in such an intolerant backwards place, which also helps explain why liberal college towns like Madison and Eau Claire are the only areas in the state that had larger numbers of younger workers. And it takes more than a silly WEDC marketing campaign in places like Chicago and Twin Cities.

Maybe WMC should tell your employers to pay like they do in those blue states and stop backing the GOP’s crookedness and pandering to fundies at the Capitol. And maybe WMC should spend less time being GOP rent-seekers, and start caring more about real investments that make talent want to locate to Wisconsin.

Unless, that's NOT what WMC and WisGOPs really want.