Although the UW System recently announced 220 jobs would be cut, and that the state has seen an increase in unemployment, economic experts are encouraging an optimistic outlook.
The current 5.1 percent unemployment rate in Wisconsin is the highest the state has seen since February 1994, according to the Department of Workforce Development. Racine experienced the state’s largest unemployment rate of 6.6 percent, while Madison holds the lowest rate at 2.8 percent.
Terry Ludeman, the department’s chairperson, said seasonal unemployment increase is nothing for graduating students to panic about.
“It will continue to be at this rate through February and March, due to the slowdown of seasonal jobs,” he said.
Ludeman said it is typical for many companies to cut jobs during winter months. Retail and trade-industry jobs decrease due to the holiday drop off. Building and construction work is also limited this time of year, as well as lumber and paper industries.
“In April work will be picking up again,” Ludeman said.
Due to the 1.1 billion-dollar state budget deficit, the UW System (made up of 26 campuses around Wisconsin) will be required to cut 220 jobs this year.
John Torphy, vice chancellor for administration at UW-Madison, said it is too early to tell how this will affect Madison. He stated they will do everything possible to avoid laying off workers, and cuts are being taken to spaces already vacant.
“A portion of these reductions will come from positions that were authorized to be filled next year, so there are currently no one in those positions,” he said.
These cuts should not affect staff or faculty. However, Torphy pointed out UW will no longer be able to fund programs, such as the goal to make classroom sizes smaller for freshmen and sophomores. Also, UW Capstone Certificates, given for integrated studies, will no longer be feasible.
The decision of where cuts will come from is still in question. George Lightbourn, Wisconsin Department of Administration Secretary, stated decisions on the budget would be a slow process.
“Each campus will pull all of its departments to figure out where cuts will be made; this will take up to a couple of months,” he said.
While the UW System sorts out its deficits of $16-20 million, state statistics show other cuts are occurring in Wisconsin as well.
Statistics released Friday show a loss of 76,800 jobs occurred in Wisconsin last month. However, Jennifer Reinert, secretary of the workforce development department, said this decrease is normal.
“Although the struggling economy has forced up unemployment levels for much of the past year, the level of increase in last month’s rate is near normal for this time of year,” Reinert said.
Temporary job placement services in Madison say there are fewer jobs available, but the number of people seeking these jobs has not changed.
Mykli McDowell, a representative for Professional Temporaries in Madison, said over the last year there has been a general job slowdown. However, signs are showing these jobs could be bouncing back, McDowell said.
“There are always opportunities and jobs out there, you just have to look longer, harder, and not expect so much initially, but you will be able to find work,” she said.
