MON AM News: Skilled labor shortage blamed for manufacturing being overtaken as top sector for jobs; PSC asks court to reject tech giant Oracle’s request

July 13, 2026

— The head of WMC says a shortage of skilled labor is largely to blame for manufacturing being usurped by healthcare as the state’s top employment sector, while AI-enabled automation is also entering the mix.

“Manufacturers are having difficulty finding skilled workers because of the demographic challenges we face,” Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce President and CEO Kurt Bauer said Friday in an interview.

While manufacturing was overtaken last year by healthcare by a margin of less than 5,000 jobs — according to preliminary figures detailed in a recent Forward Analytics report — Bauer noted it remains Wisconsin’s “economic supersector” with a $74 billion annual contribution to state GDP, compared to $42 billion for healthcare.

He added each factory job added in Wisconsin creates four jobs in other sectors of the economy. But even with that outsized impact, he noted the same demographic trends contributing to the skilled worker shortage are leading to greater demand for healthcare services as the state’s population ages.

“I do think that this trend will be difficult to reverse unless we can find more workers, so we’ve got to be able to recruit people into the state, and then of course steer young people who are in Wisconsin to stay in Wisconsin and to go into manufacturing careers,” Bauer said.

Still, the workforce challenges manufacturers are grappling with are driving further investments into automation and robotics, according to Bauer, who noted AI is helping bring down the costs of implementing these technologies.

Even as the sector becomes more high-tech, Bauer said many young people “still see it as dumb, dirty and dangerous,” skewing the perception of related careers.

“It’s high-tech, high-skill, high-pay, but yeah a lot of young people don’t know that,” he said, adding “the stigma is a shadow over manufacturing that hurts us.”

The Forward Analytics report issued last week shows employment in the paper and printing segments of manufacturing have declined 45% and 42% since 2001, respectively, driven by the rise of digital media. At the same time, employment in transportation equipment and machinery manufacturing have dropped by 37% and 22%, respectively.

Bauer attributes the trend in the latter categories to the challenge with filling highly technical roles such as aerospace engineers. He noted WMC has supported the expansion of UW-Madison’s engineering program in hopes of addressing this shortage.

“We’re trying to generate more engineers in Wisconsin … hopefully that will help and pay dividends in the future,” he said. “It is hard to recruit engineers to come to Wisconsin, so we’ve got to produce as many as we can ourselves.”

Meanwhile, report authors noted food manufacturing represents a “bright spot” for the sector as it grew by more than 27% over the study period. And the relatively small beverage and tobacco manufacturing segment still grew by nearly 150% thanks to a boom in craft breweries.

Bauer also pointed to the importance of state policy supporting manufacturing, noting the last four state budgets introduced sought to repeal the state’s manufacturing and agriculture production tax credit.

“That’s the opposite of what we need to grow the manufacturing sector and sustain it … Our policymakers need to understand that the Wisconsin economy depends on it, and it’s not just manufacturers,” he said. “It’s the vast supply chain being driven by the strength of manufacturing in Wisconsin.”

See more in an earlier story.

— Oracle’s request to an Ozaukee County judge to overturn credit rating requirements for data center operators would “overturn 100 years of established caselaw,” state regulators argued in a new filing.

Attorneys for the Public Service Commission last week asked the court to reject the tech giant’s request, which they argue would allow Oracle to dictate preferential service terms with the utility and bypass PSC oversight.

Oracle last month filed a request for judicial review of the commission’s April decision setting the terms by which We Energies would bill data center customers.

The PSC in its April decision required “very large customers” like Oracle, a co-developer and primary occupant of the Port Washington data center campus, to either meet liquidity and tangible asset tests and maintain a credit rating of at least A- or post collateral equivalent to the whole book value of new power plants built to meet its generation needs.

Oracle, which has a credit rating of BBB, has said maintaining the required $7 billion in collateral would cost it over $100 million in bank fees annually.

In its judicial review and prior regulatory filings alongside We Energies parent WEC Energy Group, it had asked for the credit rating requirements set by regulators be lowered and the utility be allowed to waive the asset and liquidity requirements for Oracle.

PSC attorneys called Oracle’s request to lower the credit rating a red herring, “to disguise its real request, which is to reinstate (We Energies’) sole discretion, without Commission oversight, to waive any and all Financial Support Requirements for Petitioner.”

“Despite causing approximately $7 billion in energy infrastructure investments solely to serve it, investments which have the potential to become stranded assets and the burden of non-participating customers, Petitioner argues that the Financial Support Requirements approved by the Commission are unreasonable, but only because the utility can’t unilaterally waive them,” PSC attorneys wrote.

WEC Energy Group has filed paperwork to intervene in the lawsuit.

The utility in a regulatory filing last month asked the PSC to lower the credit rating requirements, arguing the financial security requirements “significantly narrow the pool of investors willing and able to fund data centers” in Wisconsin.

After the PSC declined to schedule a hearing on the petition ahead of a deadline Friday, effectively rejecting it, WEC Energy Group spokesperson Brendan Conway said the utility was “disappointed” in regulators’ decision.

“The current requirements add significant cost and remove flexibility, which could make it harder for companies to invest in Wisconsin,” Conway wrote in a Thursday email. “We believe updating the financial support requirements will help ensure the policy meets the goal we all agree on: protecting customers while supporting jobs and economic growth in Wisconsin.”

Citizens Utility Board of Wisconsin – which argued for collateral requirements for data centers before the commission – has also said it will intervene in the lawsuit.

Executive Director Tom Content said last week that he was pleased regulators’ decision not to lower financial security standards would remain in place for now.

“It’s an important safeguard to keep, given continuing concerns about an AI bubble bursting and whether Oracle and its heavy borrowing is making it the most vulnerable company in Big Tech to a potential bubble,” Content wrote. “Asking We Energies customers, who are already paying the third highest electricity rates in the Midwest, to shoulder extra risk is not warranted.”

As of May, Oracle carries more than $160 billion in outstanding liabilities, according to reporting by Fast Company, including $133 billion tied to its artificial intelligence buildout. It also holds less than $40 billion in cash.

Clean Wisconsin also praised regulators’ decision to let their April ruling stand. The environmental advocates have not said whether they will intervene in the lawsuit.

— Environmental advocates have filed a lawsuit against the DNR over its move to issue permits for the $15 billion Port Washington data center project, alleging the agency abandoned a required review of its impacts.

Midwest Environmental Advocates on Friday announced it has filed suit on behalf of the Sierra Club against the state Department of Natural Resources.

The release referenced emails obtained through a public records request, arguing agency staff “reversed course” on requiring an Environmental Impact Statement after complaints by companies involved in the large-scale project.

“Wisconsinites have a right to know why the state changed course and why one of the largest development projects in Wisconsin history is moving forward without the level of environmental review and public input the law requires,” MEA attorney Michael Greif said in a statement.

The groups are asking the courts to overturn the DNR’s decision that an EIS isn’t required for the project, as well as the agency’s approval of an air pollution control construction permit to developer Vantage Data Centers until it complies with the Wisconsin Environmental Policy Act.

When asked for comment, a spokesperson for Vantage said the company has “worked closely and transparently” with the DNR and other regulatory agencies throughout the review process for the hyperscale data center.

“We remain confident in the rigorous process that informed the permitting decisions and will continue to focus on developing the project responsibly and in compliance with all applicable requirements,” the spokesperson wrote in an email.

The other companies named in the lawsuit — Oracle and OpenAI — didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

See details.

See the release.

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