On this blog, I intermittently post on Wisconsin macro aggregates. For micro assessments of Wisconsin’s labor markets and household welfare, I turn to High Road Strategy Center’s reports. From the 2024 report, here are four key graphs.
From the document:
Job Market Hits Record High in June 2024: Wisconsin Added More Than 25,000 in the Year
In June 2024, the state set a new record high for jobs: 3,048,000. From July 2023- July 2024,
Wisconsin added 25,700 jobs.
Wages Up: Historic High for Wisconsin’s One-Year Median Wage Increase
From 2022-23, the inflation adjusted median hourly wage increased by 97 cents. Since 1979
(the first year reliable data for state wages is available), the inflation adjusted median wage has increased by this much only twice: in 2019 and 2023.
Equalizing Wage Growth: Lower-Wage Workers Make Stronger Gains
In a reversal of trends for much of the last forty years, lower wage workers in Wisconsin
experienced stronger wage growth than higher wage workers. The gap has been closing in the
recovery from the pandemic shutdowns and has continued again this year.
Wisconsin Union Decline Worst in Region, Despite Unions’ Growing Popularity
The public perception of unions improved dramatically over 2011-23, but even so, Wisconsin’s
unionization rate dropped by one-third (from 14 to 8.4 percent) over the same period. This
decline outpaces the rate of deunionization of all neighboring states.
Wisconsin’s Working Women: Gender Pay Disparity Leaves Women Behind
In 2023, the women’s median wage was $22.03 while men’s median was $25.09. At the median, women earn 88 cents for every dollar a man earns. This is Wisconsin’s gender wage gap. It is much smaller than in 1979 but remains significant, especially for Black and Hispanic women in the state.
For more discussion, see Associate Director Laura Dresser on WIsconsin PBS (8/30).
Latest on Wisconsin macro aggregates, see here. For more on the economy vs. “vibecession”, see my colleague J. Michael Collins on WIsconsin PBS (8/30).