— Figures tracked by MMAC are showing a “slow, steady path upward” for Milwaukee’s economy, according to the group’s latest economic trends report.
The Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce yesterday released its June report, showing 14 of the 23 factors included in its analysis saw year-over-year improvements that month.
While that’s slightly lower than the 15 positive indicators from the May report, MMAC Vice President of Economic Researcher Bret Mayborne noted year-over-year job growth in the metro area “reached its strongest level in eight months led by strong gains in the leisure and hospitality and government” sectors.
Still, he added area housing and other real estate indicators “continue to post sizable declines” driven by higher interest rates. Existing single-family home sales dropped 23.9 percent to 1,399, while mortgages recorded in Milwaukee County declined 21.2 percent.
MMAC found seven of the area’s 10 major industry sectors added jobs over the year in June, with leisure and hospitality leading the pack with a 5.4 percent increase. The largest decline was seen in professional and business services, with 3.3 percent.
Meanwhile, manufacturing and production employment trends were “mostly positive,” the report shows. Employment in this sector grew 0.9 percent in June, marking the 27th month in a row of job gains.
And while the length of the average workweek for these employees declined 2.6 percent over the year to 34.1 hours on average, average hourly earnings and average weekly earnings rose 9.7 percent and 6.9 percent, respectively.
See the full report: https://www.wisbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/June-2023-trends.pdf
— About two-thirds of health care and social assistance businesses in the state are owned by women, according to a recent report from UW-Madison’s Division of Extension.
This sector includes ambulatory health care services, hospitals, nursing and residential care facilities, along with “a substantial number” of home health aides, the report shows.
“These businesses play a vital role in supporting not only the economic strength of regional economies but also the well-being of communities across the state,” wrote report author Tessa Conroy, an associate professor in the university’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences.
Other top sectors for women-owned businesses include the “other services” category — which covers many different companies including those in equipment and machinery repair, pet care and laundry services — as well as retail trade.
“These women-led retail businesses contribute significantly to the local economy and are instrumental in providing diverse products and services to Wisconsin’s consumers,” Conroy wrote.
Aside from those sectors, Conroy notes women-owned businesses are largely underrepresented across much of the economy, even when companies owned equally by men and women are included. The most stark examples are transportation and warehousing, and manufacturing, with just 20 percent and 18 percent of businesses being owned by women.
The report used 2019 data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Annual Business Survey Program, including both employer and nonemployer establishments. Conroy notes only including employers would “exclude a staggering 89% of women-owned businesses in Wisconsin” that have no employees.
See the full report: https://economicdevelopment.extension.wisc.edu/2023/08/03/exploring-the-landscape-of-women-owned-businesses-in-wisconsin/
— The latest episode of “WisBusiness: The Show” features Katy Jinkins of SixLine Semiconductor, the 2023 grand prize winner of the Governor’s Business Plan Contest.
SixLine is developing materials used in high-performance electronics as an alternative to today’s silicon chips. The Middleton-based company works with aligned carbon nanotubes among other supporting technologies.
These miniscule “straws” of carbon atoms are 50,000 times thinner than a human hair, Jinkins explained.
“They exhibit really exciting electronic properties, and thermal properties, and mechanical properties,” she said. “So they can really enable a next generation of electronics that outperforms the current devices in terms of speed, energy efficiency — all the possible metrics that you can think of.”
Jinkins discusses plans to target customers in device fabrication industries, which produce computer chips that go into cell phones, laptops and other technology. And she shares her top takeaways from winning this year’s business plan competition.
Watch the show here: https://www.wisbusiness.com/2023/wisbiz-the-show-features-bpc-winner-katy-jinkins-of-sixline-semiconductor/
See coverage of this year’s contest here: https://www.wisbusiness.com/2023/sixline-semiconductor-wins-2023-govs-biz-plan-contest/
— GOP legislative leaders were quick to dismiss Gov. Tony Evers’ special session call to take up a $1 billion workforce development package.
Among other things, Evers wants the Legislature on Sept. 20 to take up his call to pump $365 million into programs to support child care providers. The Dem guv warned of an “economic calamity” if the state doesn’t step in to help child care providers, saying it would result in people leaving the workforce because they lack options to watch their kids while they’re on the job.
But Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, called the special session call a “stunt” and the proposal the guv laid out yesterday “nothing more than a rehash of Tony Evers’ tax and spend budget.”
He said the child care subsidies aren’t sustainable long term and knocked the guv for vetoing the bulk of the income tax cut Republicans put in the 2023-25 state budget.
“Our priority when we return in September will be to give Gov. Evers another chance to fix his mistake by signing a middle-class tax cut,” Vos said.
See more at WisPolitics.com: https://www.wispolitics.com/2023/tue-pm-update-gop-leaders-reject-evers-call-to-take-up-1-billion-workforce-development-plan/
— The general counsel for Culver’s Franchising urged lawmakers to support legislation that would make it easier for restaurants to prevent companies such as DoorDash from delivering their food.
The bill comes in response to increasing complaints by restaurant owners that delivery services list their businesses on their websites without their permission and post incorrectly about them. Restaurants then get blamed for delivery errors.
“Because we have no relationship with the companies, we have no control over what they’re doing with our food,” Steven Anderson, general counsel for Culver’s Franchising System, told the Senate Labor, Regulatory Reform, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee. “When they list our information on the website, I can tell you every single time it’s incorrect.”
Anderson said everything from menu items to pricing is listed incorrectly, but restaurants have a difficult time getting third-party delivery services to remove their information from their websites.
Anderson said that problems also arise when restaurants do attempt to enter exclusive agreements with certain delivery services because there could be other third-party companies already listing them on their websites.
The bill, introduced by Sen. Pat Testin, R-Stevens Point, would regulate third-party food delivery services with requirements that they provide a publicly accessible process for restaurants to request removal from their digital network, ensure those working for them have knowledge of basic food safety principles, and provide restaurants with the content of orders placed with them and the time they were received.
If removed from a delivery company’s network, it couldn’t list the restaurant again without consent.
Sen. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, asked that the bill be altered to require that restaurants give written or electronic, but not oral, consent to being listed again. He also asked that the authors ensure restaurants already removed from a delivery service’s network do not automatically get added back to the network if the bill passes.
<br><b><i>Top headlines from the Health Care Report…</b></i>
— Wisconsin would enter a multi-state licensure agreement for physician assistants, under a bill being circulated by Republican lawmakers.
Meanwhile, Dem Attorney General Josh Kaul and a group of Wisconsin doctors have asked a Dane County judge for a final ruling that an 1849 Wisconsin law doesn’t apply to abortion, but refers to feticide instead.
<i>For more of the most relevant news on COVID-19, reports on groundbreaking health research in Wisconsin, links to top stories and more, sign up today for the free daily Health Care Report from WisPolitics.com and WisBusiness.com.</i>
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— The Public Service Commission announced it will begin overlaying a new 353 area code in the part of the state now covered by 608.
The new area code will be assigned to new lines starting Sept. 15 with the 608 area code expected to run out of available numbers by the first quarter of 2024.
See the release:
#TOP STORIES#
# Brewers lobbied most in first half of 2023 for stadium renovation cash
# CocoVaa, east side chocolatier, eyes expansion with a $500K campaign
# Wisconsin Republicans dismiss governor’s call to increase funding for child care, UW System
#TOPICS#
# AGRIBUSINESS
– Wisconsin agriculture gets a boost with Evers’ bills
http://wisconsinagconnection.com/story-state.php?Id=743&yr=2023
– Wisconsin dairy industry faces showmanship challenge
http://wisconsinagconnection.com/story-state.php?Id=744&yr=2023
# CONSTRUCTION
– Mayfair mall’s Boston Store property redevelopment includes 900 apartments
# ECONOMY
– State’s second-smallest town prepares for 5,000% increase in state money
– BrightStar Wisconsin Foundation has helped create more than 1,500 jobs, seed more than 70 startups
# EDUCATION
– Here’s what ChatGPT says about itself as a tool for school
# FOOD AND BEVERAGE
– Molson Coors acquires spirits company
– West Allis Cheese shop owner sets debuts for Archie’s Flat Top, Scratch Ice Cream
– An Appleton eatery made this year’s Yelp list of best 100 Midwest restaurants
# HEALTH CARE
– New study shows some Wisconsin neighborhoods have higher rates of antibiotic resistance
– UW-Green Bay, DHS aim to certify 10K new workers to provide home health care in Wisconsin
# INVESTING
– Louisville startup receives $1.4 million from Mequon-based investor
# LEGAL
– Milwaukee County judge dismisses urban planner’s lawsuit against Wauwatosa
# MANAGEMENT
– Johnson Controls appoints Marc Vandiepenbeeck as president of Building Solutions Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Latin America
# POLITICS
– Dairy farmers get $16 million boost in House bill
http://wisconsinagconnection.com/story-state.php?Id=747&yr=2023
– Gov. Tony Evers calls special session to address child care, workforce challenges
– Wisconsin abortion ban doesn’t exist, attorney general argues
# REAL ESTATE
– Indian food, EV chargers included in downtown Green Bay plan; gas station raises concerns
# TOURISM
– What happened to the gravity-defying Wonder Spot at the Wisconsin Dells?
# PRESS RELEASES
<i>See these and other press releases:
https://www.wisbusiness.com/press-releases/ </i>
A.C.E. Building Service: Celebrates 60 years of construction success
