Wisconsin Overview

Agriculture, manufacturing and tourism power the Wisconsin job market and economy. Wisconsin produces 25 percent of the country’s cheese and ranks second in milk production to California. The Badger State’s economy, which fared relatively well during the recession, has recently taken a few dips, but is forecasted to recover and continue to expand.

Wisconsin Job Opportunities

Wisconsin has a stable real estate market, the extensive University of Wisconsin network, and acres of forest to fuel its paper-products business. The state’s natural attractions -- including 15,000 inland lakes, two Great Lakes, and 57 state parks and forests -- fuel a booming tourism business.

The top sector for employment in Wisconsin is trade, transportation and utilities, followed by manufacturing, education/health services and government. The only industries to report consistent job expansion in 2011 were education/health services and manufacturing.

Wisconsin Employment Trends

After improving steadily, Wisconsin job conditions recently showed some instability. Payrolls across the state dropped for two years during the recession, turned positive from mid-2010 through mid-2011, then turned negative again at the end of 2011 and beginning of 2012. Online job postings had been strong and increasing since the end of the recession, but showed tempered growth in early 2012. The Wisconsin unemployment rate, which peaked at just above 9 percent from mid-2009 to early 2010, had fallen to around 7 percent by early 2012.

Wisconsin jobs are projected to increase 1.1 percent from Q2 2012 to Q2 2013, below the 1.3 percent growth expected in the nation’s job supply, Moody’s Analytics forecasts.