Wisconsin 33rd in 2017 Job Growth

Wisconsin ranked 33rd of all states and the District of Columbia for the percentage of job growth in 2017, according to data released by the U.S. Department of Labor. The state added approximately 40,200 jobs in 2017, equating to a 1.4 percent increase above December 2016.

When adjusted for average job growth during the entire year, there was a 1.2 increase in 2017, greater than the 1.1 percent increase in 2016.

The growth in Wisconsin was spread out across the state. The Janesville-Beloit region led the state with 2.3 percent growth in 2017, adding 1,567 jobs. Appleton followed closely behind, adding 2,692 jobs for a 2.2 percent increase. Madison came in third with a growth of 1.6 percent by adding 6,166 jobs.

Wausau, Fond du Lac and La Crosse all saw a 1.4 percent increase in jobs created.

The state’s largest job hub, Milwaukee, was relatively flat in job growth in 2017, adding 1,508 jobs for a 0.2 percent increase. That puts the city in 50th for big metro areas with more than 500,000 employed. Green Bay, Oshkosh-Neenah, and Racine also showed minimal growth.

Meanwhile, Eau Claire was the only city in Wisconsin where data was collected that lost jobs in 2017. A loss of 958 jobs resulted in a 1.1 percent decrease in jobs in the western Wisconsin city.

The promised 10,000 jobs created by the tech-firm Foxconn outside of Racine would constitute 25 percent of the total jobs that were added in the state in 2017. Meanwhile, the closure of the Kimberly-Clark plant in Neenah and the loss of an estimated 600 jobs would flip the city’s job growth from positive to negative judging by 2017 jobs numbers.