WED AM News: WMC survey finds fewer business leaders struggling to find workers amid economic uncertainty; WisBusiness: the Show with Kalpa Vithalani, Marquette University

June 11, 2025

— WMC’s latest survey finds fewer business leaders are struggling to find workers, though this is likely being driven by economic uncertainty putting a damper on hiring and other decisions.

That’s according to Kurt Bauer, president and CEO of Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce. In a statement on the findings, he said uncertainty always has an economic impact.

“Trade, the status of the federal budget reconciliation package, and unnerving geopolitics are unpredictable at best right now,” he said. “So, it is no surprise that Wisconsin business leaders are concerned about how their business — and the broader economy — will fare in the months and years to come.”

The group yesterday released results of its Wisconsin Employer Survey, which found the state and national economy top the list of business concerns reported by respondents at 36%. That was followed by global economic conditions at 13%, health care costs at 11% and labor availability, 10%.

At the same time, the share of respondents that are struggling to find workers was 52%, the lowest percentage for this measure WMC has seen in more than a decade. In an earlier survey from six months ago, it was 63%, after previously peaking in 2022 at 88%.

“Many businesses are delaying decisions and investments, including hiring, while a slow economy has more people looking for work,” Bauer said.

Still, 86% of respondents said their business was profitable over the last six months and 92% predict profitability through the end of the year.

When asked about state policy, 38% of respondents said addressing health care costs is the “one thing the state can do” to help their business. That was followed by reducing regulations at 23% and reducing taxes at 21%. Bauer says Wisconsin has the fourth-highest health care costs in the country.

“Healthcare has become a major burden for Wisconsin businesses who provide coverage to their employees,” he said.

Meanwhile, perspectives on the state and U.S economies were somewhat mixed, though most respondents rated both as “moderate.” While 20% said the state economy is strong, 68% said it’s moderate and 12% said it’s weak. For the national economy, responses were 13% strong, 67% moderate and 19% weak.

But the direction of the national economy was seen as much more favorable by respondents, WMC found. While 37% said Wisconsin is headed in the right direction, 63% said it’s headed in the wrong direction. By comparison, 75% said the U.S. is headed in the right direction while 25% disagreed.

The survey, conducted through email and traditional mail, tapped 208 employers that WMC says make up “a representative sample” of its membership and the state’s business community.

See the survey results and release.

— In the latest episode of “WisBusiness: the Show,” Marquette University’s Kalpa Vithalani discusses how campus innovation leads to better products and breakthroughs in health sectors and other fields.

She touts the impact of “transferring these incredible technologies out of the academic realm, into the real world, doing good.”

The discussion touches on some of the university’s technology transfer success stories, including Marquette Energy Analytics, which grew out of an effort to reliably predict future natural gas demand.

“Born out of that, over the years since the early ‘90s, over 300 students were trained, many publications … millions of dollars in revenues generated for the university before it was spun out,” she said. “But today, as a company that’s located right here in Milwaukee in the Third Ward, Marquette Energy Analytics is today predicting 25% of … the nation’s natural gas consumption.”

She also highlights Rapid Radicals Technology, a startup with a method for treating wastewater much faster than the standard approach. This company won the 2022 Governor’s Business Plan Contest, which is put on by the Wisconsin Technology Council. Vithalani has served as a judge for the contest.

“They’re revolutionizing the wastewater treatment industry,” she said. “Taking down the time it takes from eight hours to 30 minutes to treat both municipal and industrial wastewater.”

Watch the show and find more episodes here.

— Tourism generated a record-high $25.8 billion in economic impact in Wisconsin last year, surpassing the previous record of $25 billion set in 2023.

Gov. Tony Evers and the Department of Tourism also yesterday announced 114.4 million people visited Wisconsin in 2024, another record. That was up 1.4 million people compared to 2023 and topped the former record of 113.2 million set in 2019, the year before the COVID-19 pandemic put a dent in the state’s tourism industry.

Altogether, the industry generated $1.7 billion in state and local revenue last year, according to the Evers administration.

The tourism industry also supported 181,898 part-time and full-time jobs across sectors in 2024, growing 2.2 percent from the previous year.

The five counties that saw the largest impact from tourism last year are:

Milwaukee County, $4.3 billion
Dane County, $2.6 billion
Sauk County, $2 billion
Waukesha County $1.8 billion
Brown County $1.4 billion

The Evers administration said the impact included $16.3 billion in direct spending by tourists, while the 181,898 jobs in the tourism industry generated more than $7 billion in labor income.

See the release.

— Rep. Dave Armstrong said at a committee hearing his bill to create programs offering grants for households to move to Wisconsin would bring more people to the state.

“Wisconsin needs to do everything we can to address our workforce shortage and demographic changes,” the Rice Lake Republican told the Senate Committee on Transportation and Local Government yesterday. “The talent recruitment program can be invaluable to this effort. Incoming households will not only help employers, but buy houses, pay taxes, patronize businesses, attend schools and contribute to the community and the state.”

SB 285 would create a talent recruitment program to incentivize households residing in other states to relocate to a Wisconsin municipality.

Applicants can be a municipality, American Indian tribe, or nonprofit organization and must provide the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation with a plan for a program to bring a certain number of households into the state. And the applicant must be willing to pay at least 20% of the cost of the program.

Under the bill, households who move to Wisconsin with an annual income of $55,000 or more would be eligible for these programs.

Armstrong said the bill would cost $10 million over the biennium.

Sen. Mark Spreitzer, D-Beloit, said he was “concerned” about funding the bill without approval in the budget process. Spreitzer said WEDC would have to cut other programs without extra funding for this bill.

Armstrong said he agreed, and plans to find a way to fund the bill and “not cannibalize existing programs.” Armstrong said he intends to try to include this as part of the state budget.

— The Trump administration is touting new findings from the White House Council of Economic Advisers, saying Republicans’ reconciliation bill would put more money in Wisconsinites’ pockets.

The council is run by appointees of President Donald Trump, including former UW-Madison Prof. Kim Ruhl. The reconciliation bill would raise wages for Wisconsinites in the long run, adjusted for inflation, by about $5,500-$10,400 per worker, according to the findings. The council also found a typical Wisconsin family with two children would see higher take-home pay of about $7,200-$12,000 if the bill is signed into law.

U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison, knocked the bill in a statement to WisPolitics, arguing it would benefit the ultrawealthy.

“If Republicans were interested in writing a bill that gives average Wisconsinites some much-needed breathing room, I’d be the first one at the table,” Baldwin said. “Instead, Republicans’ plan guts programs that working families rely on, from Medicaid to Food Stamps, all so they can rig the tax code for corporations and wealthy Americans. The White House can’t claim they are supporting working people and Made in Wisconsin businesses while giving handouts to the ultrawealthy, kicking over 250,000 Wisconsinites off their health care, and jacking up costs for families, manufacturers, and farmers.”

Baldwin’s office also pointed to a Brookings Institution report voicing skepticism about the Council of Economic Advisers’ analysis of the bill’s potential impact.

According to the White House, the Council of Economic Advisers calculates investment, GDP and wages in response to lower effective tax rates in the analysis.

Other Wisconsin Dems did not return requests for comment.

Several Wisconsin Republicans praised the findings in statements to WisPolitics, arguing the bill will benefit Wisconsinites.

U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Minocqua, said the bill would directly benefit Wisconsinites and “delivers major wins for the American people by protecting families and small businesses from the largest tax hike in history and by putting more money back into the pockets of seniors, parents, and workers.”

Meanwhile, Baldwin is touting a new Dem committee report finding an estimated 258,396 Wisconsinites would lose health insurance coverage under the bill.

That includes 110,142 Wisconsinites with Affordable Care Act coverage, and 148,254 on Medicaid, according to the report.

Baldwin in a statement said Republicans’ plan is to “gut benefits for working Americans so that the wealthiest Americans and big corporations can get richer.”

“My phones have been ringing off the hook from Wisconsinites who are terrified their health care coverage is on the chopping block, and now we see just how many of our neighbors are in jeopardy,” Baldwin said.

The Joint Economic Committee Minority report combines data estimates from a Congressional Budget Office analysis of the reconciliation package on the amount of people who would lose insurance by 2034 with state-level data on enrollees in Affordable Care Act plans and Medicaid and analyses of how cuts would impact each state.

See more at WisPolitics.

— Wisconsin corn growth is running ahead of last year while winter wheat progress is behind last year’s rate, according to a USDA report.

The agency’s National Agricultural Statistics Service says corn emergence in the state was 82% complete as of Sunday, which is six days ahead of last year but one day behind the five-year average.

But winter wheat fields were 52% “headed” — a measure of crop progress — which is six days behind last year and one day behind the average.

Meanwhile, soybeans were 73% emerged, which is even with last year but one day behind the average, according to NASS. The report also shows oats were 89% emerged, one day ahead of the average. And the first cutting of alfalfa hay was 68% complete, five days ahead of last year and two days ahead of average.

See the release.

DEI language cut by UW Health, SSM Health, more Wisconsin hospitals

Wisconsin travel spending grew 3.5% in 2024. That’s a slowdown partly tied to inflation

TOPICS

AGRIBUSINESS

– Wisconsin Farmers Union hosts local food systems forum

– Corn and soybean planting near completion in Wisconsin

ECONOMY

– ‘You simply can’t make long-term decisions’: Generac CEO frustrated with tariff policy gyrations

– Wisconsin business leaders cite economy as top concern in latest WMC survey

ENVIRONMENT

– Citizen science project tracks tick-borne disease risks across Wisconsin