Dismal Job Growth Nationally, but State Sees Progress

Nationally, only 54,000 jobs were created last month, according to a federal agency, but Wisconsin may be doing better than average.

United States Bureau of Labor Statistics released May's employment numbers on Friday, and the situation wasn't good. The 54,000 jobs created, didn't significantly move the national unemployment rate, which went from 9.0 in April to 9.1 percent last month. 

Job gains that were seen nationally came from increases in professional and business services, health care and mining, the BLS press release stated. Jobs were lost in other private-sector industries, and in local government. 

The most recent employment numbers available from the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development were for April. The picture locally looks a bit better than the national one, but Wisconsin still struggles with unemployment.

Metro Milwaukee added 2,700 jobs in April, according to the DWD, continuing four months of job growth. The metro areas of La Crosse, Madison, Racine, Sheboygan and Wausau also added jobs in April, DWD stated, while Appleton, Fond du Lac, Green Bay and Oshkosh-Neenah experienced decreases.

All of the state's 12 metro areas saw unemployment rates drop, as did all the state's municipalities with at least 25,000 residents. Caledonia, in Racine County, had the lowest unemployment rate in the state, according to the DWD, at 3.5 percent. 

So what's behind the numbers?

An economist told Huffington Post that this "is not a fluke report."

"We are seeing broad-based evidence here of a softer economy," said Robert A. Dye, a senior economist for The PNC Financial Services Group. 

He warned that the country could have an economy that, while technically growing, creates no new jobs. 

The article also talks about the uneven distribution of new jobs, with the majority of new positions being created in low-paying industries, with a median wage of $32,510. 

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel's take was similar.

The JS reports economists are laying some blame for the sluggish job growth on energy prices. High oil prices translate to high gas prices, which cut into the amounts of money consumers and businesses have to spend on other things.

So what's next?

The Department of Revenue's Wisconsin Economic Outlook for spring 2011 predicts it will take another three years for the state to return to its peak level of 2.9 million jobs, from early 2008. The report says manufacturing employment growth will be between 3 and 3.5 percent per year, until 2014. Education and Health Services was the only sector that did not drop during the recession, the report states. The sector added 3,600 jobs in 2010, according to the report, and wis expected to add another 6,100 jobs in 2011, with continued growth over the next two years.

Wisconsin unemployment has remained below the national rate, the report states, and predicts decreases over the next several years, to 5.5 percent in 2014.