Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development

This page is one of three companion pages to the Wisconsin Economic Indicators, providing definitions for each of the data series.

C = coinciding indicator

The 9 coinciding indicators denote the current level of economic activity.

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Help-Wanted Index - C1

This is an index of the number of help-wanted advertisements placed by employers in the major Milwaukee newspaper. The ad count is obtained and reported by The Conference Board, a nonprofit business research organization in New York. Worker advertising volume tends to coincide with movement of the economy as a whole.

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Unemployment Rate - C2

This is the percent of persons age 16 and older who are in the civilian labor force and who are not working, but are either waiting to be recalled to a job, or are actively seeking a job. The data comes from the Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program which is in the Bureau of Workforce Information.

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Motor Fuel Taxed - C3

This is the total number of gallons, in millions, of motor vehicle fuel taxed in the state. Motor vehicle usage varies directly with economic prosperity. These data are reported by the State Department of Revenue.

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New Car Registrations - C4

This is the monthly number of registrations of new cars in Wisconsin. The data are collected and reported by the state Department of Transportation.

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Electric Power Sales - C5

This is the total electric power sales, in millions of kilowatt hours, sold by the six major public utilities in Wisconsin. The data are sensitive to both seasonal and business cycle variation. The sources of the data are the six utilities.

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Manufacturing Employment - C7

This is the total number of workers, in thousands, employed in Wisconsin's manufacturing industries. The number includes those workers not working due to a labor management dispute. The source of the data is the Current Employment Statistics (CES) program which is in the Department of Workforce Development.

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Average Weekly Earnings, Mfg. - C8

This is the average wage of production workers in manufacturing industries during the survey week each month. It is calculated from the payroll data supplied by employers and is affected both by changes in average hourly earning and by changes in the length of the workweek. The data come from the Current Employment Statistics (CES) program, which is in the Department of Workforce Development..

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Cash Receipts, Farm Marketing - C9

This is the receipts, in millions of dollars, from commercial market sales of livestock and crops produced in Wisconsin. The data are reported monthly by the Department of Agriculture's Statistical Reporting Service, but with a several month lag.

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Contract Construction Employment - C10

This is the number of workers, in thousands, employed by general contractors in various types of construction and by special trade contractors. The source of the data is the Current Employment Statistics (CES) program, which is in the Department of Workforce Development.

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