Wisconsin Unemployment

A long time ago, but not in a galaxy far, far away, I recall dreading taking home that first-quarter report card from school.

I wasn’t the best student, but wasn’t the worst either. What made getting not-so-spectacular grades even more difficult was I had to have a parent sign my report card before turning it back in to my teacher, which guaranteed they would see it.

I recall having my mom sign report cards more frequently than my dad because she didn’t yell quite as loud.

Fortunately, the older I got, my school performance improved and by the time I was in my fourth year of college, if I received any grade lower than a B+, I would be disappointed in myself. At that stage in my academic life, I had no worries about my parents viewing my report cards even before I saw them. After all, who’s going to complain when six courses are marked with either an A or A-?

The government also prefers pointing to the good in economic data.

The state last week released the September unemployment numbers for Wisconsin’s primary metropolitan areas. All 12 regions showed a drop in unemployment.

The state’s overall jobless rate for September was 7.8 percent, down from 8.8 percent a year ago. That’s great news. The state credited an improving economy to the drop in unemployment.

However, a look at the seasonally adjusted numbers shows the state’s current work force at 3,031,000, that’s down 27,900 people from the 3,058,900 in September 2009. The data also reveals in September, 2,795,500 of our current work force is employed, that’s about 4,300 more than were employed a year ago.

Economists I contacted were puzzled by the state’s positive outlook.

“I’m not sure what the Department of Workforce Development is so excited about,” said Brian Jacobsen, an analyst with Wells Fargo Advantage Funds and an associate professor of economics for Wisconsin Lutheran College. “The labor force has shrunk by 27,900 people from a year ago … Employment has only increased by 4,300. This is not the time to be cheerleading.”

Scott Niederjohn, associate professor of economics at Lakeland College, said the economy needs a jump-start.



“Removing the uncertainty would be a good first step,” he said. “A decision by Congress on the Bush tax cuts would help.”

President Barack Obama and his administration are pondering whether to break apart the tax cuts. The plan calls for a permanent extension of cuts for families earning less than $250,000 a year, and a temporary extension of cuts on income above that.

Republican leaders have pushed to extend the Bush tax cuts, which expire in December, for all income brackets, while the president says the country cannot afford to keep tax breaks on income over $250,000 a year for families, or $200,000 for individuals.

Jacobsen said something must to be done to spark job creation.

He suggests, at the state level, elimination of corporate income taxes could be an effective lure to draw new business into Wisconsin.

Until something is done, Niederjohn is uncertain things will improve, particularly in the near term.

“I expect little or no change,” he said. “There is too much uncertainty in the private sector due to tax and health care policy to see major gains in private sector employment … Further, firms have learned to become more productive using less workers to do the same job.”

The Bureau of Economic Analysis, an arm of the Department of Commerce, last week reported the nation’s economy grew at an annual rate of 2 percent in the July-to-September quarter. That’s a slight increase from 1.7 percent rate logged during the April-to-June quarter.

The government credited increased consumer, business and government spending to the slight increase. Keep in mind the number is an early estimate, so it still can go up or down when the revised official and final third-quarter number is released Dec. 22.

I’ve always been an optimist when it comes to writing about the economy. There have been some good things happening around the region in terms of hiring and expansion news, though we could use more.

In conversations I’ve had with business professionals, I sense their mood is more positive than it was a year ago.

A majority of people I’ve spoken to seem to accept the road to better times will be long and slow. As long as everyone can remain patient and just keep moving forward, in the end, we will be fine.