Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development

Wednesday, November 20, 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

OCTOBER LOCAL EMPLOYMENT FIGURES RELEASED

MADISON – Forty of Wisconsin’s seventy-two counties saw some decrease in their October unemployment rates, twenty-one counties experienced an increase and eleven saw no change from September in figures released today by the Department of Workforce Development.

"Thirty-nine Wisconsin counties reported rates last month equal to or lower than they reported in October 2001," said DWD Secretary Jennifer Alexander. "In October, forty Wisconsin counties had rates of 4.0 percent or less and six had rates under 3.0 percent," she said.

Dane County had the state’s lowest unemployment rate at 2.1 percent. Buffalo and Iowa counties were the next lowest at 2.6 percent. Three counties in the state had 7.0 percent or higher unemployment rates including Juneau County at 7.0 percent, Florence County at 8.0 percent and Menominee County at 11.5 percent.

Many of the counties in the west central and southwestern areas of the state have experienced very low unemployment rates in the last few months. This includes Buffalo, Crawford, Dunn, Eau Claire, Iowa, Jackson, La Crosse, Pepin and Trempealeau counties. Among these counties, only Pepin and Trempealeau have experienced a 4.0 percent or higher unemployment rate since June.

Metropolitan Statistical Areas of the state, particularly in the southeastern part of the state continue to experience very sluggish labor markets. Racine reported a 6.9 percent seasonally adjusted rate for October, Milwaukee had a 5.2 percent seasonally adjusted rate, Kenosha had a 5.2 percent seasonally adjusted rate, and Janesville/Beloit had a 5.4 percent seasonally adjusted rate.

The greatest improvement over last year’s figure was experienced in Dodge County, where the 2001 rate was reported at 6.2 percent and the 2002 rate was reported at 4.1 percent. Juneau County also saw considerable improvement. Juneau County’s October 2001 rate was 8.4 percent, while the 2002 October rate was 7.0 percent. The greatest deterioration was experienced in Florence County, which went from 5.2 percent in October of 2001 to 8.0 percent in October of 2002. Lafayette County also saw a substantial increase over the year, 4.0 percent in 2001 and 5.6 percent in 2002.

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 Employment and Labor Force
Household Survey

Unadjusted estimates	Oct. 2002	Sept. 2002	Oct. 2001
Total labor force	3,054,200	3,049,300	2,993,000
Employed	2,928,200	2,918,500	2,870,800
Unemployed	126,000	130,700	122,200
Wis. Unemployment Rate	4.1%	4.3%	4.1%
U.S. Unemployment Rate	5.3%	5.4%	5.0%

 

Seasonably adjusted	Oct. 2002	Sept. 2002	Oct. 2001
Total labor force	3,069,000	3,065,000	2,999,800
Employed	2,919,400	2,909,800	2,857,500
Unemployed	149,600	155,100	142,300
Wis. Unemployment	4.9%	5.1%	4.7%
U.S. Unemployment	5.7%	5.6%	5.4%

 

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Oct. State Rank *Sept. Area Rank	Unemployment % seasonally adjusted	Oct. 2002	Sept. 2002	Oct. 2001
25th	Wisconsin	4.9	5.1	4.7
105th	Appleton-Oshkosh	4.5	4.9	4.1
64th	Eau Claire	4.5	4.8	5.0
86th	Green Bay	4.6	4.6	4.2
214th	Janesville-Beloit	5.4	6.1	6.2
158th	Kenosha	5.2	5.4	5.4
33rd	La Crosse	3.8	3.9	3.8
7th	Madison	2.5	2.6	2.2
197th	Milwaukee-Waukesha	5.2	5.4	5.0
275th	Racine	6.9	6.9	7.5
86th	Sheboygan	4.2	4.4	4.5
44th	Wausau	4.3	4.4	4.0
This is the latest available data for the U.S.’s 331 largest metro areas. Urban rankings are NOT seasonally adjusted. Lower is better. Ties are shown only if existing with other Wisconsin urban areas; ties with urban areas in other states are not shown, but are available upon request. Rankings are by the U.S. Labor Department and are based on unadjusted data for the previous month, while the rates shown above for Wisconsin metropolitan areas are seasonally-adjusted and for the current month. **State ranking is seasonally adjusted *Metropolitan ranking is not seasonally adjusted and is for the prior month

Source *Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development

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Maps of October 2002 Unemployment Rates by County

WISCONSIN COUNTIES Unemployment Rates October 2002 Not Seasonally Adjusted)       COUNTY         RATE  LAST  RATE  LAST  RANK  YR    AGO  RATE       RANK   COUNTY RATE  LAST  RATE  LAST  RANK  YR     AGO  RATE     46 ADAMS 3.7% 3.2% 64 3.6% 60 MARATHON 3.2% 3.4% 59 3.0% 10 ASHLAND 5.5% 5.9% 7 4.9% 12 MARINETTE 5.0% 5.3% 11 5.1% 36 BARRON 4.0% 4.0% 36 3.8% 8 MARQUETTE 5.8% 5.3% 13 5.8% 50 BAYFIELD 3.6% 3.6% 52 3.7% 1 MENOMINEE 11.5% 10.2% 1 10.4% 37 BROWN 4.0% 4.0% 37 3.7% 6 MILWAUKEE 5.9% 6.2% 4 5.7% 71 BUFFALO 2.6% 2.7% 69 3.4% 30 MONROE 4.1% 4.1% 32 5.2%    38 BURNETT 4.0% 3.7% 50 4.2% 7 OCONTO 5.9% 5.9% 8 5.9% 52 CALUMET 3.5% 3.9% 43 4.1% 18 ONEIDA 4.7% 4.8% 19 3.4% 25 CHIPPEWA 4.2% 4.2% 25 4.4% 33 OUTAGAMIE 4.0% 4.4% 22 3.5% 27 CLARK 4.2% 4.1% 33 4.6% 58 OZAUKEE 3.2% 3.5% 54 3.1% 23 COLUMBIA 4.3% 4.0% 42 4.0% 55 PEPIN 3.4% 3.5% 56 3.6% 61 CRAWFORD 3.2% 3.2% 63 3.1% 44 PIERCE 3.7% 3.8% 47 3.1%    72 DANE 2.1% 2.3% 72 1.9% 24 POLK 4.2% 4.4% 23 4.1% 32 DODGE 4.1% 4.0% 39 6.2% 65 PORTAGE 3.0% 3.4% 57 3.0% 69 DOOR 2.7% 2.7% 70 3.1% 41 PRICE 3.8% 4.0% 34 3.6% 47 DOUGLAS 3.6% 3.8% 44 4.3% 4 RACINE 6.0% 6.2% 5 6.6% 67 DUNN 2.8% 2.9% 68 3.0% 40 RICHLAND 3.9% 3.6% 53 3.2% 59 EAU CLAIRE 3.2% 3.4% 58 3.7% 11 ROCK 5.0% 5.4% 10 5.7%    2 FLORENCE 8.0% 6.7% 3 5.2% 21 RUSK 4.4% 4.9% 15 4.8% 45 FOND DU LAC 3.7% 3.8% 48 3.8% 64 SAUK 3.1% 3.0% 66 2.9% 15 FOREST 5.0% 4.8% 20 4.0% 56 SAWYER 3.4% 3.4% 60 3.3% 51 GRANT 3.5% 4.1% 28 3.3% 22 SHAWANO 4.3% 4.2% 27 4.6% 43 GREEN 3.7% 4.1% 29 4.4% 39 SHEBOYGAN 3.9% 4.0% 35 4.1% 31 GREEN LAKE 4.1% 4.0% 38 4.3% 16 ST. CROIX 4.8% 5.4% 9 3.8%    70 IOWA 2.6% 3.1% 65 2.6% 66 TAYLOR 3.0% 3.2% 62 2.9% 17 IRON 4.8% 5.0% 14 4.4% 48 TREMPEALEAU 3.6% 3.8% 45 3.6% 62 JACKSON 3.2% 3.0% 67 3.4% 49 VERNON 3.6% 3.8% 46 3.5% 57 JEFFERSON 3.3% 3.5% 55 3.5% 68 VILAS 2.8% 2.6% 71 2.8% 3 JUNEAU 7.0% 6.9% 2 8.4% 53 WALWORTH 3.5% 3.6% 51 3.6% 19 KENOSHA 4.6% 4.8% 18 4.9% 28 WASHBURN 4.2% 4.0% 40 4.2%    13 KEWAUNEE 5.0% 4.9% 16 3.5% 29 WASHINGTON 4.2% 4.0% 41 3.5% 63 LA CROSSE 3.1% 3.3% 61 3.0% 54 WAUKESHA 3.4% 3.7% 49 3.4% 9 LAFAYETTE 5.6% 5.3% 12 4.0% 34 WAUPACA 4.0% 4.1% 30 4.4% 5 LANGLADE 6.0% 6.1% 6 6.6% 26 WAUSHARA 4.2% 4.2% 26 4.7% 20 LINCOLN 4.5% 4.5% 21 4.1% 35 WINNEBAGO 4.0% 4.1% 31 3.5% 14 MANITOWOC 5.0% 4.9% 17 4.8% 42 WOOD 3.7% 4.2% 24 3.3%

Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development
Bureau of Labor Market Information and Customer Service

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WISCONSIN CITIES Unemployment Rates October 2002 (Not Seasonally Adjusted) RANK CITY RATE LAST RATE LAST RANK YR  AGO RATE             9 APPLETON CITY 5.5% 5.9% 6 4.5% 2 BELOIT CITY 8.2% 8.6% 2 9.1% 25 BROOKFIELD CITY 3.2% 3.4% 25 2.9% 22 EAU CLAIRE CITY 3.7% 4.1% 21 4.3% 14 FOND DU LAC CITY 4.9% 4.9% 14 4.9% 20 FRANKLIN CITY 4.0% 4.2% 20 3.6%    4 GREEN BAY CITY 6.5% 6.4% 4 5.9% 24 GREENFIELD CITY 3.4% 3.7% 23 3.1% 11 JANESVILLE CITY 5.0% 5.5% 10 5.3% 8 KENOSHA CITY 5.6% 5.8% 8 6.2% 19 LA CROSSE CITY 4.3% 4.4% 19 4.1% 28 MADISON CITY 2.3% 2.5% 28 2.2%    5 MANITOWOC CITY 6.1% 5.9% 7 5.8% 27 MENOMONEE FALLS CITY 3.1% 3.3% 26 3.2% 3 MILWAUKEE CITY 8.2% 8.6% 3 7.9% 6 NEENAH CITY 5.8% 5.8% 9 5.3% 26 NEW BERLIN CITY 3.2% 3.3%