Wisconsin workers still feeling
impact of two year old recession
Madison—Wisconsin workers are still reeling from the impact of the national recession that began in 2001, according to a new study released by the Center on Wisconsin Strategy (COWS) over Labor Day weekend.
Last year COWS issued The State of Working Wisconsin, an in-depth analysis of labor conditions in the state. The State of Working Wisconsin: Update 2003 offers a brief look at how workers in Wisconsin have fared since then.
“This is a phantom recovery for Wisconsin workers,” said Joel Rogers, director of COWS and co-author of the report. “Unemployment has gone up, we’re still hemorrhaging manufacturing jobs, and for those with jobs wages have barely moved. This is grim stuff.”
Among the report’s key findings:
· From 2000 to 2002, Wisconsin’s unemployment rate jumped from 3.5 to 5.6 percent, effectively the same as national unemployment rate (5.8 percent). This is the first time in a decade that Wisconsin unemployment rates have been as bad as national ones.
· Among the state’s male workers, the unemployment rate nearly doubled over the 2000-2002 period, rising from 3.6 to 6.5 percent.
· More than 19 percent of Wisconsin’s black workers were unemployed in 2002 – nearly twice the rate for black workers nationwide (10.3 percent), and nearly four times the rate for white Wisconsin workers (five percent).
· In the two years since the start of the March 2001 recession, Wisconsin lost 54,000 manufacturing jobs, almost ten percent of all manufacturing employment in the state.
· Between 2001 and 2002, median hourly wages in Wisconsin rose from $13.03 to $13.18, an increase of only one percent.
“This shows us again that we need to worry about job quality in Wisconsin,” said Laura Dresser, COWS research director and co-author of the report. “We need to focus squarely on generating and retaining jobs that offer decent wages and benefits. The days of ‘any job is a good job’ are over.”
The report offers several recommendations:
· Strengthen, don’t cut, workforce education and training programs.
· Target manufacturing for a competitive upgrade, to keep high-paying manufacturing jobs in the state.
· Raise the minimum wage, increasing earnings for low-income workers across the state.
“Wisconsin needs to make a clear choice for a high-road economic development strategy,” said Rogers. “Raise the wage floor, protect worker rights, get manufacturing and other business the technical assistance they need to compete at wages that keep our quality of life.”
The mission of the Center on Wisconsin Strategy, based at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is to improve economic performance and the quality of life in Wisconsin.
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