Contact: Bill Rubin/Nita Dusek, St. Croix EDC, 715-381-4383 or nita@stcroixedc.com
St. Croix County’s May Unemployment Rate at 2.5%
On June 26th, the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development (DWD) announced the preliminary May 2019 unemployment rates for Wisconsin’s 72 counties and the 33 cities with populations greater than 25,000 residents. St. Croix County’s rate was estimated at 2.5%. For comparison, St. Croix’s final rate in April was 2.9% and March’s final rate was 3.6%. One year ago, the county’s unemployment rate was estimated at 2.6%.
DWD said preliminary unemployment rates for May declined or remained the same in 47 of the 72 counties. The rates ranged from 2.2% in Dane County to 5.7% in Menominee.
May’s 2019 preliminary unemployment rates declined or stayed the same year-over-year in 22 of Wisconsin’s 33 largest municipalities. Rates ranged from 2.1% in Fitchburg to 4.1% in Beloit.
The five counties with the lowest unemployment rate in May include Dane and Lafayette (both at 2.2%), and Iowa, Sauk, and Sheboygan (all at 2.3%). Menominee County had the highest rate in May at 5.7%, followed by Forest (4.3%), Iron (4.2%), Bayfield (4.0%), and Burnett (3.8%).
St. Croix, Pierce, Polk, and Dunn counties comprise Wisconsin’s Greater St. Croix Valley. In addition to St. Croix’s rate of 2.5 %, May’s preliminary rate in Polk was estimated at 2.6%, followed by 2.7% in Pierce, and 3.0% in Dunn.
St. Croix and Pierce counties are included in the 15-county Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington MN-WI metro area. The May 2019 unemployment rate for the Twin Cities was estimated at 2.7%, which is lower than April’s final rate of 2.8% and the final rate of 3.6% for March. The unemployment rate in the Twin Cities was 2.3% in May 2018.
For the sixteenth consecutive month, the preliminary (seasonally adjusted) unemployment rate for Wisconsin was at or below 3.0%. For May, the rate was estimated at 2.8%, which is the same as April’s final rate and lower than the final rate of 2.9% for March. One year ago, the state’s seasonally adjusted rate was 3.1%.
The preliminary (seasonally adjusted) unemployment rate in Minnesota in May was estimated at 3.3%, which is the same as the final rate for April, but higher than March’s final rate of 3.2%. Minnesota’s seasonally-adjusted rate one year ago was 2.9%.
The preliminary (seasonally adjusted) unemployment rate in the U.S. for May was estimated at 3.6%, which is the same as April’s final rate and lower than the final rate of 3.8% for March. One year ago, the U.S. rate (seasonally adjusted) was estimated at 3.8%.
Wisconsin’s preliminary (seasonally adjusted) labor force participation rate for May was estimated at 67.3, which is lower than the final rate of 67.5% for both April and March. One year ago, Wisconsin’s labor force participation rate was 68.1%. The preliminary (seasonally adjusted) labor force participation rate for the U.S. in May was estimated at 62.8%, which is the same as April’s final rate, but lower than March’s final rate of 63.0%. One year ago, the labor force participation rate in the U.S. was 62.8%.
May’s estimates are preliminary and are subject to revision within the next few weeks.
