Nearly 14,000 private-sector jobs were added in Wisconsin last month while unemployment reduced to 6.8 percent, according to preliminary estimates from the officials with the state Department of Workforce Development.
This is good news, according to John Schmid, business reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
“There really is no other way to see it as something other than positive,” said Schmid, even though he continued by talking about the notoriously inaccuracy of these monthly numbers.
State officials' release of the data last week was only preliminary while revised May numbers were provided at the same time. The unemployment rate clocked in at 7 percent in May, they said.
Although a large number of the jobs that were added were "leisure" jobs, positions associated with the summer tourism market, Schmid said he believes that these always fluctuate during this time of the year. Other industries that had hiring were in information technology, financial services and other non-agricultural sectors of Wisconsin's economy.
Schmid said that the state is still tied to many centuries-old industries, such as manufacturing and paper mills, but he believes that once Wisconsinites find a way to accelerate the pace of economic reinvention, there will likely be a real change in the state's economic recovery.
"There is a lot of innovation that can come out of manufacturing industries … and you’re beginning to see a lot of really interesting innovation coming out of water technology," he said. "But, I’m reluctant to make a prediction on mining related jobs."
