H -°, L 23° | Tomorrow: 
H 23°, L 9°Wisconsin state unemployment rates fell in September compared to August, the Department of Workforce Development announced last week.
According to the DWD’s findings, the state’s unemployment rate was 4.4 percent in September, down from 4.7 in August. The rate in September 2007 was one-tenth of a percentage point lower than this year’s figure.
“We are holding our own in these very challenging economic times at the national level,” DWD Secretary Roberta Gassman said in a statement. “Our focus remains one of strengthening our workforce, assisting job seekers and connecting them with employers.”
Dan Barroilhet, economist with the DWD, said the unemployment figures are a composite of data collected from several different sources. The DWD surveys Wisconsin residents about their employment status, examines historical data and looks at the number of unemployment insurance claims filed.
Barroilhet said the most notable figure in the report was that the Wisconsin numbers are lower than the national unemployment rate, which is at 6 percent.
“Right now we see the Wisconsin rate lower than the U.S. rate, which is kind of striking,” Barroilhet said. “The Wisconsin economy tends to be a little more seasonal than the U.S. economy. Our summer lows involved a bit more dipping than the U.S. rate; our winter highs then involve a sharper hike.”
From August to September, jobs in both leisure and hospitality industry and private sector both fell. The number of government jobs went up 23,400, mostly due to the start of the school year. Total state employment was up 17,600 from August but down 2,900 compared with one year ago.
Barroilhet said it is unclear how the recent economic problems will impact these numbers over the coming months.
“Someone in my position tends to look at it as a time of increased uncertainty and less predictable patterns and less confident forecasting,” Barroilhet said.
He added that DWD doesn’t spend a lot of time forecasting rates for coming months.
“It’s not that we do no forward-looking analysis; we do plenty of it, but we try to limit our predictions to areas where meaningful, useful predictions can be made,” Barroilhet said.
IP hash: bd6b2d38
WOW! A 4.4% unemployment rate. It’s and economic disaster! We need HOPE! We need CHANGE! We can’t take this economic depression any more, Mr. Obama, please SAVE us!
Just think. If the immigration laws were really enforced and all of the illegal aliens in WI were deported today, the state unemployment rate would be 2%. The strain and economic burdens on our welfare, health care, and legal system would be dramatically reduced.
Now THAT would REALLY be a disaster, wouldn’t it, good socialist of Wisconsin?
Secure the borders. Deport the Illegals. Si se puede!
IP hash: cff4c519
@9:29, your post would have made sense but unfortunately all of your economic assertions were 100% incorrect. Nice try. May I recommend a course in labor economics? Good. Now get back to use once you have achieved satisfactory progress.
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Anon-i-mouse 11:54am,
Hey, I’m back! The Aug 2008 employment data shows a total labor force in WI of 3,075,900. (Ref: http://www.bls.gov/eag/eag.wi.htm#eag_wi.f.3) Two percent of those (my estimate of illegal aliens working or seeking employment in the state today)is 61,518.
A direct quote from “Wisconsin: Population Projection Data” (Ref: http://www.fairus.org/site/PageServer?pagename=researchwisconsincensus) “We estimate that Wisconsin’s illegal alien population now numbers about 85,000 persons.”
I stand corrected. My estimate of illegal aliens working in WI was way too low. The official estimate of illegal workers is closer to 3% (85,000) of the working population! The problem is even larger than I had thought! Looks like the unemployment rate would drop to near 1%, if we deported the illegals!
Now those are reasonably conservative estimates, Anon-i-Mouse! You offer no data. You offer no references. Just your empty assertions that the data can’t be correct.
Leave economics to adults. You need to focus your attention on your career choices: “Do you what fries with that?” or “Paper of plastic, Sir?”
Secure the Borders. Deport Illegal Aliens. Si se puede!
IP hash: 2231479f
11:54am, why don’t you just get lost! What the hell would you know? Illegals should be deported regardless! Go with them if you don’t like the fact that Americans need jobs too.
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I know more than you do aopparently. Get education. redneck
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Anonymous pro-immigrant nitwit - care to correct his economic assertions? It’s you who doesn’t know labor economics.
IP hash: 66ff2f84
Has this statistic been reviewed by the obvious loss of unemployed people as their unemloyment runs out and then they drop of the radar?