Latest jobs numbers show low unemployment in Wisconsin, while businesses still struggle to fill openings

KENOSHA, Wis. — On this Labor Day, the state of the Wisconsin workforce means quite a lot of locations are struggling to seek out staff.

On the Kenosha Laborfest, unions just like the Kenosha Skilled Firefighters Union say town is short-staffed with firefighters. Proper now, there are 143 firefighters on workers.

“The variety of folks we’re licensed for a most quantity. We’re between six and 9 quick in the present day and that’s even after hires as a result of we now have to interchange folks as they retire and we now have to rent in blocks as a result of we now have to run them by the fireplace academy. There may be at all times shortages, so there (are) lots of people working extra time,” mentioned firefighter Jeffrey Weidner who can be a member of the Kenosha Skilled Firefighters union.

He says within the quick time period, just a few further hours is okay to cowl for the lacking workers, however there’s a breaking level.

“There comes some extent the place there’s a certain quantity of restoration that we undergo. So far as bodily that there’s a level. It doesn’t matter what they’re paying, it’s too many hours,” mentioned Weidner.

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It isn’t simply the fireplace division that’s in search of staff. Drive round downtown Kenosha and enterprise after enterprise says “We’re Hiring” and “Assist Wished.”

However there may be some excellent news. Within the U.S., the variety of folks working is on the highest stage its been in almost six months, in accordance with the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It’s at the moment at 62.4 %, which is up from 62.1 % from the earlier month.

On prime of that, the unemployment charge is extremely low in Wisconsin, in accordance with the Wisconsin Division of Workforce Growth. The most recent numbers present it was at 3.3 %. Federal reserve economics contemplate full employment between 4.2 and 4.7 %.

The president of Kenosha’s AFL-CIO Labor Council Rick Gallo says he has seen a change in how folks view themselves.

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“I believe that COVID, if it has performed something, it has heightened folks’s consciousness of what their worth is as a employee,” mentioned Gallo.

At the moment, the variety of staff who’re in a union within the nation is down by greater than 10 %. In keeping with the U.S. Division of Labor, the variety of staff in a union fell by 241,000 final yr. Nevertheless, public help for unions is at 68 %, in accordance with a Gallup ballot. That’s the highest stage it has been at in almost six a long time.

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“We’re seeing an increasing number of unionization efforts across the nation and right here in Wisconsin, the place we now have had the Starbucks Espresso and the Colectivo organizing. Amazon is one other large one that’s beginning to set up. So we expect unions are on a comeback path,” mentioned Gallo.

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