State jobless rate falls

Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development (DWD) Secretary Roberta Gassman announced today that Wisconsin’s unemployment rate for May was 4.2 percent, down 0.2 percentage points from the April rate of 4.4 percent and one-half of a percentage point lower than the rate in May of 2007.  The national rate for May was 5.2, up 0.4 percentage points from April’s 4.8 percent, and up 0.9 percentage points from May 2007.

“Wisconsin’s labor market showed continued improvement in May, with lower unemployment and more jobs over the previous month,” Secretary Gassman said. “Particularly encouraging is the improvement in construction and manufacturing, both of which showed increases in jobs in May for the third consecutive month.”


From April to May, total Wisconsin non-farm jobs increased by 35,400 to 2,887,900. Private sector jobs grew by 33,500, led by strong growth in the Leisure & Hospitality sector (11,500 more jobs) and the Construction sector (8,700 more jobs). Manufacturing jobs increased again last month with 2,100 more jobs.


Over the year, May 2008 showed a decline of 16,100 Wisconsin non-farm jobs. Goods producers were down 15,600, led by a decline in manufacturing of 9,500. Service providers were down 500 over the year, led by a decrease of 7,800 in trade. Government jobs increased 2,700 over the year, led by growth in local government jobs, which were up 5,700.  State and federal government decreased their employment by 2,400 and 600 jobs respectively.