TUE AM News: Talking Trade with James Iverson, ABI Research; Survey finds 60% of WI child care providers have unused space

September 17, 2024

— The latest episode of “Talking Trade” features insights from ABI Research analyst James Iversen, who discusses a recent survey of U.S. and German manufacturers.

“German and U.S. manufacturers, they have a very similar investment priority when it comes to deployment of new technology … They kind of hope to achieve the same if not very similar goals when they do end up deploying these new technologies,” he said.

The survey found the top issue faced by both German and U.S. manufacturers is minimizing product defects, Iverson said, while American businesses are putting a greater emphasis on network security issues than German companies.

“They’re still looking predominantly at eliminating data silos, minimizing the cost of utilizing big data centers to store all your data and your pipelines,” he said. “So that would be kind of the biggest difference.”

Iverson also said German companies have more established sustainability frameworks, while the U.S. is less rigid and structured.

“When you talk about core issues of sustainability and environment, for German manufactures, they have — I don’t want to say solved the issue, because I think this issue has a long way to go — but generally speaking, German manufacturers are ahead of the curve on this,” he said.

The discussion also highlights the “shrinking workforce” for the industry, as skilled workers leaving the industry aren’t being replaced adequately with proficient workers. While Iverson points to AI as one solution to this problem, noting its role in training new hires, he acknowledged it’s not bulletproof.

“I don’t think it’s going to be the complete solution,” he said. “I think this is more of a Band-Aid until we find the correct long-term solution.”

Talking Trade is hosted by E.M Wasylik Associates Managing Director Ken Wasylik and M.E. Dey & Co. President and Managing Director Sandi Siegel.

Watch the show here.

“Talking Trade” is now available in audio form on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and other platforms. Subscribe and find more episodes here.

— A new survey released by Gov. Tony Evers shows 60% of child care providers across Wisconsin have unused space, such as closed classrooms, due primarily to staff shortages.

Wisconsin child care centers pay lead teachers $13.55 per hour on average — less than half of the average hourly wage of $28.34 for Wisconsin workers, according to the survey.

Providers reported that if they were able to operate at full capacity, they could serve up to 33,000 more kids — a significant portion of the 48,000 kids on waitlists for child care in Wisconsin.

The survey, conducted with the Department of Children and Families, comes as part of a years-long push by Evers to use federal funds to help subsidize wages and benefits for staff at child care centers.

In 2020, Evers used $711 million in federal COVID-19 funds to create Child Care Counts, a program that subsidizes wages and benefits for providers in the hopes of keeping centers open and bolstering access.

He also proposed putting $340 million in state money into the program in the 2023-25 budget. But it was rejected by GOP lawmakers along with a $1 billion workforce package that Evers pitched last fall that included the proposed Child Care Counts money.

GOP lawmakers instead proposed a package that would help create: a revolving loan program for facility renovations and other expenses; a tax-deductible savings account to which parents, guardians, employers and others could contribute to help cover the cost of care; and changes to standards such as lowering the minimum age to 16 from 17 for assistant child care teachers and increasing the minimum ratio of child care workers to kids in a group care center.

This all came as enrollment in the Wisconsin Shares child care subsidy program took a hit during COVID-19 as fewer parents put their kids into daycare during the pandemic, and it has not yet recovered. That has resulted in millions of dollars in unused subsidies to help low-income families.

See the release.

— The balance of Wisconsin’s Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund hit $1.87 billion at the end of July, about $200 million more than at the end of 2023, according to state Department of Workforce Development figures.

But that’s lower than the recent peak of $1.96 billion seen at the end of 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic-induced layoffs caused a “rapid increase” in UI benefit payments, a previous DWD report shows. After falling to just over $1 billion at the end of 2021, the balance had increased to $1.63 billion at the end of 2023.

DWD’s report notes that the increase occurred while the state’s tax tax schedule had the lowest contribution rate for employers, under Schedule D. That’s in effect because the UI fund balance remains above $1.2 billion, the report shows. Employers in Wisconsin get their specific UI tax rate in an annual rate notice that’s sent in the fall.

Still, the fund remains below the recommended level set by the U.S. Department of Labor, which would be about $2.61 billion. That level is based on a scenario in which a trust fund would be expected to pay UI benefits at a “historically high rate” for a year without being exhausted.

— Exact Sciences has announced new data for its blood-based colorectal cancer test, detailing progress toward a “breakthrough” in cancer screening.

The Madison-based diagnostics company presented its findings yesterday during the European Society for Medical Oncology Congress in Spain, according to a release.

The study used more than 3,000 blood samples.

Included were about 2,900 samples from a larger prospective study called BLUE-C, which is focused on the performance of the next generation of Exact Sciences’ Cologuard test as well as the blood-based colorectal cancer, or CRC test. Scientists found the test has 88.3% sensitivity for CRC and 31.3% sensitivity for advanced precancerous lesions.

These results “show the potential” for a new blood-based panel of DNA markers for the disease that can help detect cancer “at an attractive cost profile,” the company says. Exact Sciences says it will do additional studies ahead of an FDA submission for the test, with full results from the BLUE-C study expected in the first half of 2025.

If approved, the blood-based CRC test could give about 60 million unscreened U.S. residents another option for testing, according to the announcement.

Dr. Paul Limburg, the company’s chief medical officer for screening, says detecting advanced precancerous lesions at a level comparable to Exact Sciences’ existing Cologuard test, “would be a breakthrough in this field.”

“Results from this large, well-designed study show progress toward that goal and move us one step closer toward providing average-risk patients with another non-invasive screening option,” Limburg said in the release.

See more in the release.

For more of the most relevant health care news, reports on groundbreaking research in Wisconsin, links to top stories and more, sign up today for the free daily Health Care Report from WisPolitics and WisBusiness.com.

Sign up here.

— Milwaukee-based law firm Michael Best has added a Nebraska practice called Enterprise Legal Studio, bringing six new attorneys on board.

Michael Best yesterday announced the addition of the Lincoln-based practice marks its 19th office and its first foray into the Great Plains market.

Enterprise Legal Studio was launched in 2015, offering services to investors, entrepreneurs and startup companies. Attorney Bart Dillashaw, the firm’s founder, says the business previously worked with the Michael Best team on venture issues and became familiar with the firm’s Venture Best team.

“As we considered ways to best serve our clients, it became clear that a combination with Michael Best was the right move to support our team and deliver quality, value-driven expertise to our clients,” he said in a statement.

See the release and listen to an earlier podcast with Michael Best Strategies Partner Sarah Helton.

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