The Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development announced Thursday the state’s January unemployment rate, which was far lower than the rate reported a year ago.

Overall, Wisconsin’s unemployment rate has stayed below the national average, which was 5.2 percent for the month of January 2005. Unemployment rates for Wisconsin have stayed below 5 percent since May of last year.

Though the state unemployment rate for January 2005 was originally estimated to be much higher, the seasonally adjusted rate was listed at 4.8 percent, compared to 4.7 percent in December 2004 and 5.4 percent in January 2004.

DWD Communications Director Rose Lynch said this low unemployment rate has helped build strong economic growth in the state.

“January 2005 was the best January we’ve had in four years,” said Lynch. “We think that is attributable to our renewed emphasis in this state on job creation.”

The 4.8 percent unemployment rate translates into more than 148,000 jobless Wisconsin residents who are looking for work. There are almost 3.1 million people currently in the state civilian workforce, according to the DWD’s seasonally adjusted estimates.

Lynch said the low unemployment rate is also due to growth in almost all of Wisconsin’s job sectors.

Almost 10,500 new jobs were added to the private education and health services sector, which experienced the highest total growth for the state last year.

The government sector and the leisure and hospitality industry also saw notable growth with 8,300 and 6,300 new jobs, respectively.

Wisconsin’s manufacturing sector saw substantial growth with 5,300 jobs added during the past year.

The only two state sectors to experience loss were the natural resources and financial activities sectors, which lost a combined 300 jobs since January 2004.

However, University of Wisconsin department of economics professor emeritus Glen Cain said unemployment rates also depend on population demographics and education.

“Unemployment rates are higher for lower-educated groups and are higher for minority groups,” Cain said. “Wisconsin tends to have a higher average level of education and a lower percentage of minority groups. That would explain why [Wisconsin] has a lower level of unemployment compared to the rest of the nation.”

Lynch credits much of Wisconsin’s economic growth to Gov. Jim Doyle and his efforts to beef up the state economy.

“The Grow Wisconsin Plan, which the governor unveiled over a year ago, has been very responsible for creating more excitement in manufacturing in particular,” Lynch said.

The plan, which aims at creating a better business climate and encouraging higher-paying jobs, also claims responsibility for personal income increases for Wisconsin residents, according to Department of Revenue Secretary of Revenue Michael Morgan.

The DOR estimates Wisconsin will see a 5.7 percent growth in personal income for the 2005 fiscal year, Morgan said in a release, an increase surpassing the national growth, which is predicted to be 5.1 percent.

“This is great news for Wisconsin,” Doyle said in a statement.

The state’s personal income growth was 5.2 percent in 2004 and 3.1 percent in 2003.

Wisconsin’s bright economic future is promising for new college graduates, Lynch said.

“The outlook is really strong for new graduates, stronger than it’s been for more than four years,” Lynch said. “There should be a lot more job opportunities for new grads.”

The Wisconsin DWD will release county-by-county unemployment figures sometime this week.