With 13 years of data in tow, a newly-released Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance report found South Central Wisconsin leads the state in regional job growth, outpacing the national average.

The study tracked economic changes in particular regions and counties of Wisconsin using 13 years of federal data including employment figures, income amount and population and wage changes.

Employment growth in South Central Wisconsin exceeded both the state and the national percentage with 6.7 percent job growth, making it the fastest growing region in the state. The trend was likely led by job opportunities in Dane and Sauk counties, according to the report.

In contrast, Southeast Wisconsin experienced a 27.4 percent decrease in manufacturing jobs.

Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance Director Dale Knapp said the discrepancies in regional economic growth between the Madison and Milwaukee metro areas could be caused by the historical significance of manufacturing in Southeast Wisconsin’s economy, industries which are still prominent in the region.

“With a decline in manufacturing both here and nationally, Southeast Wisconsin gets hit harder than other regions,” Knapp said.

On the other hand, South Central Wisconsin has areas other than manufacturing, like the state government and University of Wisconsin, Knapp said. The region has also benefitted by the rapid growth of Epic Systems in Verona and spin-off companies that further feed into Epic.

Knapp added it was likely a surprise that western Wisconsin showed such economic strength.

The goal of the study was to increase society’s awareness of the deeper aspects of analyzing economic changes, he said.

“One of the things that has been going on for the past several years, in particular, is that people look at these monthly job estimates that come out and either throw their hand[s] up for joy, or express disappointment in these month-to-month fluctuations,” Knapp said. “Hopefully this gets people to start looking a little bit longer term and whether it’s the 13 years that we picked out or five years or even longer, we are hoping that it gets politicians to look a little bit longer term.”

State Department of Workforce Development spokesperson John Dipko said in an email to The Badger Herald the department is committed to making sure Wisconsin’s workforce is equipped with the skills to fill all jobs, not just in particular industries in the region.

Dipko said the department also continues to analyze data to identify worker shortages not just by region, but also by industry.

As for future research on regional economic change, Knapp said it is hard to know what direction it will take, as the state might see specific counties further examining their own strengths and weaknesses based on the findings.

“I think that hopefully what it’s going to generate is some research to focus on Southeast Wisconsin because in terms of population, total numbers of jobs, it’s still the biggest part of the state, and we need to get that growth going again, and so hopefully it spawns some research into how we can get Southeastern Wisconsin turned around,” Knapp said.