Department of Workforce Development
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Contact: Terry Ludeman, 608/267-3262 FEBRUARY UNEMPLOYMENT RATES RELEASEDMADISON – The Department of Workforce Development (DWD) today announced the state’s preliminary seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate for the month of February was 4.3 percent, up from 3.8 percent for the month of January. "Despite an increase of more than 7,000 jobs last month, Wisconsin experienced another increase in unemployment levels, which reveals a continued softness in the state labor market and mirrors a national economic slowdown," said DWD Secretary Jennifer Reinert. Over the past nine years, February has consistently been the month of highest unemployment levels and unemployment rates for the state. Unemployment has averaged some 23,659 higher in February than the annual monthly average, and the unemployment rate has been about 0.9 percentage points higher in February than the annual monthly average. Employment was reported to be 2,872,153 by the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. That was 1,559 higher than January 2001 and was 146,990 higher than the figure for February 2000. Non-farm wage and salary employment figures for the state reported a slight increase in the number of jobs between January and February. January levels were reported to be 2,783,300 jobs and February’s figure was reported to be 2,791,100. February’s figure also was a slight increase from last year’s February figure. Employment in the manufacturing sector, one of Wisconsin's strongest sectors, recorded a loss of some 5,600 jobs between January and February, dropping from 608,700 in January to 603,100 in February. The February 2001 manufacturing figure is also down 9,400 from the February 2000 figure. Durable goods manufacturing shouldered most of that loss, dropping from 370,400 in January to 366,500 in February. Service industry employment continues to grow for the State. There were 762,200 jobs in February, up from 758,300 jobs in January. The February 2001 figure also was up 21,600 from the February 2000 figure. Health services led the increase in services with 7,200 new jobs reported from one year ago. Business services and legal services employment both reported slight losses from last year’s totals. NOTE TO NEWS MEDIA County employment and unemployment figures for February should be available on March 28. This release and other labor market information is available on the department Internet site at: http://www.dwd.state.wi.us/dwelmi (end)
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| Division of Administrative Services Content Contact: Terry Ludeman | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||