Department of Workforce Development

For more information contact:
August Cibarich, 608/266-0522

Madison, Wis. – Wisconsin’s seasonally-adjusted jobless rate declined one-tenth of a percentage point in mid-January, to a preliminary 3.5 per cent.

Orlando Canto, Deputy Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, said the state’s jobless rate "remains very stable and very low, and also low in comparison to other Januarys for nearly the last 30 years."

"This is the time of year when we expect to see employment declines and unemployment increases, but this January the movements were smaller where it’s better to be smaller in a healthy economy, and larger where it’s better to be larger."

"Wisconsin’s labor market continues to show growth over the past year, as well, because of continued job gains in construction and all service-sector industries except retail trade."

He said retail trade employment still is showing gains, but at a much reduced pace than before.  "Worker shortages appear to be a factor limiting job growth here."

Canto said the latest January unemployment rate was the second lowest for the month since 1970, when it was 3.3 per cent. (That rate later was matched, in January 1998.)   The January rate also is the third lowest for any January ever.  The lowest January rate was 2.9 per cent in 1969.

The January decline was the first after three straight months of 3.6 per cent rates, based on newly-revised data.

While the state rate now has surpassed its year-ago level for two straight months, it remained well below the comparable U.S. rate for the 137^th consecutive month.

The state jobless rate was 3.5 per cent in December 1997 and 3.3 per cent in January 1998.  The comparable U.S. rate in January this year was 4.3 per cent.

The number of unemployed workers, meanwhile, rose less than normal for a January, to 120,800 from 92,900 in mid-December.  Still, it was up slightly from the year-ago level of 112,600.

The number of people who were employed in January declined in January from the month before, but the change also was less than usual -- to 2,829,500 from December’s 2,875,200.  The latest total still was up nearly 55,000 from a year earlier.

Nonfarm wage and salary employment, or payroll jobs, declined slightly less-than-normal for the month, while one major component -- manufacturing -- showed seasonal strength.

The manufacturing job count declined by 3,000 over the month to 610,500, but that was a less-than-normal drop for the month.

"While down a bit recently, job counts in manufacturing remain much closer to the year-earlier levels in Wisocnsin when compared with the nation as a whole," Canto said.

The payroll job count in four other sectors – services, trade, finance/insurance/real estate, and transportation/public utilities -- showed about normal seasonal changes.

Construction lost a larger-than-normal number of jobs in January because of cold weather after a warm late fall. Payroll jobs dropped by 14,500 over the month to 99,700. Services, the largest sector, lost a seasonally-normal 14,800 jobs and dropped to 697,600.   Trade employment fell by 27,900 to 598,400, for only a slightly larger-than-normal decline.

Finance/insurance/real estate jobs totaled 145,600, down much less than normal, while government payrolls reduced jobs by 15,700, declining to 697,600 in January and also down less than usual.  Transportation and public utilities employment was down 3,800 to 126,900.

Eight of Wisconsin’s largest urban areas showed declines in their seasonally-adjusted unemployment rates over the month, while two had increases and one did not change.  Compared to a year ago, five had decreases, five were up, and one was unchanged.

Mid-January rates ranged from 1.4 per cent in Madison to 5.4 per cent in Racine, compared to a range a month earlier of 1.5 (Madison) to 4.4 (Janesville-Beloit) and a year earlier of 1.5 (Madison) to 3.8 (Wausau).  The Milwaukee-Waukesha rate declined over the month from 3.7 to 3.5 per cent in January, while up – from 3.1 per cent – a year ago.

The rate for a 12^th area, Duluth-Superior, rose sharply over the month from 3.4 to 4.6 per cent but still was down from the year-ago January rate of 5.2 per cent.   Only unadjusted data is available for that area from the Minnesota Department of Economic Security and is not comparable to seasonally-adjusted rates in Wisconsin.

Canto also said monthly jobless rates for 1998 have been revised in a standard review called "rebenchmarking" which occurs at this time each year.  Rates for all months but January were changed to higher numbers, in most cases only slightly.  The annual average rate of 3.4 per cent announced last month for 1998 remains unchanged because it already reflected the revisions.

The revisions in the 1998 seasonally-adjusted unemployment rates:

The revised April rate of 2.9 per cent remains the lowest for any month on record, although it now is tied with January 1969.

Source: Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development

Source: Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development

Maps of January 1999 Unemployment Rates by County

Unemployment by County
January 1999
Not seasonally adjusted