Department of Workforce Development

Thursday, October 17, 2002 Governor Scott McCallum Secretary Jennifer Reinert

News Media Contact Christopher Marschman 608/261-6705 e-mail: news@dwd.state.wi.us fax: 608/266-1784

Contact: Terry Ludeman, 608/267-3262

SEPTEMBER UNEMPLOYMENT RATES RELEASED

MADISON – Wisconsin’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for September was estimated at 5.1 percent, down one-tenth of a percentage point from August’s final rate and six-tenths higher than the September 2001 figure. The national unemployment rate for August was 5.6 percent, also down one-tenth from August. The state’s unadjusted unemployment rate for September is 4.3 percent, which is down from 4.8 percent in August.

"Wisconsin nonfarm jobs increased a smaller than normal 3,600 in September, while the number of people employed in all Wisconsin industries increased a seasonally adjusted 10,300 last month," said DWD Secretary Jennifer Alexander.

Manufacturing jobs dipped 5,100 in September to 572,200, which is 12,800 jobs less than was recorded for last September. Secretary Alexander said however that the manufacturing economy has seen significant improvements in the past six months. In March there were 563,200 manufacturing jobs – 9,000 fewer than Wisconsin had last month. The number of manufacturing jobs in March of this year was 30,800 less than reported for March 2001 – a shortage nearly 2½ times greater than reported in September. "The ‘year-ago’ comparison deficit for manufacturing is the smallest it has been all year, while the number of all nonfarm jobs has grown by more than 15,000 over past year," Alexander said. "This represents a pretty significant improvement to a manufacturing deficit of nearly 31,000 jobs and an overall deficit of more than 16,000 jobs just six months ago," she said.

*Industry Jobs statistics are gathered from surveys of employers in non-farm related employment and All Employment statistics are obtained through monthly random household surveys.

September employment and unemployment figures for individual counties should be available on October 23. This release also is available at www.dwd.state.wi.us/lmi.

# # #