Jobs slipped slightly in July while employment hit a new record, state reports

'Help Wanted' sign is displayed at a gas station (Mario Tama | Getty Images)

The number of jobs dipped slightly in Wisconsin in July while employment rose, according to projections released Thursday by the state labor department.

The unemployment rate in Wisconsin remained close to steady at 3% in July, the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development (DWD) reported. The projected number of people reporting they were employed reached a new high of 3.049 million.

The projected number of jobs in the state ticked down slightly in July, the department reported, but remains ahead of the figures from  a year ago. The changes reported Thursday from June and from a year ago were not rated as statistically significant.

Both employment data and jobs data are projected from surveys conducted by the federal government. The employment figures are calculated from a household survey that asks if household members are working or actively seeking work. The jobs numbers are calculated from a survey that asks employers about their payrolls.

The jobs survey projected a decrease of 6,500 nonfarm jobs in July from June, while the total number remains 25,700 more than in July 2023. Private sector jobs slipped by 8,500 from June, while remaining 17,900 ahead from a year ago.

“We know things are slowing a little bit in job creation and in the economy as a whole from what it was,” said DWD’s chief economist, Dennis Winters, in an online briefing for reporters Thursday. “That was going gangbusters before, so things are slowing.”

Winters said some slippage was to be expected in a long run of generally positive news. He noted that another federal jobs report is due at the beginning of September, before the Federal Reserve Board meets, when some forecasters are expecting a reduction in interest rates in response to the economy’s slowing expansion.

“We’ll just be paying attention to it as it goes forward and see what develops. But I think … we’re in a pretty good way,” Winters said.

Winters said employers continue to report a “constant challenge to find quantity and quality workforce,” but that signs of optimism remain. “They’re looking at adding employment if they can. They’re looking at more capital investment as things go forward.”

So far, he said, constraints on employers aren’t coming from softening consumer demand, but from finding employees.

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