A report released Tuesday by the Center on Wisconsin Strategy shows mainly bleak employment statistics for the state.
COWS, a University of Wisconsin-based nonprofit, nonpartisan organization which advocates economic development and better living standards in the state and nationwide, released their biennial review of jobs, wages, poverty, income and job quality in the state.
According to the report, Wisconsin’s unemployment rate has doubled since December 2007 to 9 percent, which equates to 140,000 jobs lost. After a monthly average loss of 18,650 jobs from October 2008 to April 2009, however, rate of job loss has leveled out over the past few months.
The report also shows the manufacturing industry has lost the most jobs over the biennium. More than one-eighth of manufacturing jobs were eliminated, which put about 66,100 Wisconsinites out of work.
Of the major employment sectors, COWS stated only education and health services show a considerable increase in employment since 2007. These industries, however, are most heavily dependent on public spending.
The report also says the median hourly wage in Wisconsin, $15.48, is now below the national level of $15.74. This median wage is also only 32 cents higher than it was in 1979.
One positive statistic presented by the report is the lessening of the gender gap in wages. The findings show women’s median wage is 82 percent of men’s, an improvement from the 72 percent gap 30 years ago. Nationally, the gender gap in wage is 83 percent.
Another positive statistic in the COWS report is that the minimum hourly wage increased to $7.25, which is the national level. The report also said leaders are considering raising it to $7.60 per hour and indexing it to inflation.
According to Kimber Liedl, spokesperson for Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, this report just proves the Legislature needs to make the state more “business friendly.”
“Those numbers just show the state needs to do something to reverse the anti-job climate,” Liedl said. “Lowering the tax burden and providing incentives will improve our business climate and make us more competitive with other states.”
Liedl added Fitzgerald will reveal a jobs package to the Senate within the next month.
Assembly Committee on Jobs, the Economy and Small Business Chair Rep. Louis Molepske, D-Stevens Point, said the state will focus on green job creation to fill voids left by job loss in the state.
“At this point there is no lack of ideas,” Molepske said. “It’s having both [legislative] houses, the governor and the community on same page to identify the strengths in what we have and attract what we are lacking in order to retool our workforce.”
Molepske also said the committee will be chiefly occupied with looking at business procurement processes, what green jobs mean to the state and other new emerging trends. He added the committee will focus on policies that do not look at price of worker, but instead at value and sustainability.
