(Image Source: Ernie Journeys / Unsplash)

March 2022

Job openings in Wisconsin peaked in July 2021 with more than 230,000 jobs in need of workers. Although the pandemic and the Great Resignation may have intensified the trend, the number of job openings in Wisconsin has been trending upward since at least early 2015.

The high number of job openings leads many to speculate that large numbers of our fellow Badgers are sitting on the sidelines. While participation rates have fallen somewhat among several age groups over the past several decades, Wisconsin’s current participation rate is slightly above where it was in February 2020 and Wisconsin consistently has higher labor force participation rates than the nation as a whole.

Badgers work hard, and it shows. The years between age 25 and 54 are considered prime working years. In total, 91.1% of Wisconsin men and 81.6% of Wisconsin women aged 25 to 54 are in the workforce, as compared to 87.9% of all U.S. men and 75.1% of all U.S. women in the same age group.

The same high participation rates are seen in our state’s young adults, with 74.7% of Wisconsinites ages 20 to 24 in the workforce as compared to 69.3% of the nation’s adults of the same age. Even our teenagers are more likely to work than the nation’s teenagers. Roughly 52% of kids ages 16 to 19 in Wisconsin are in the workforce, as compared to 34.5% of all U.S. teenagers of the same age.

An abundance of available jobs relative to people in the labor force has helped push the unemployment rate down to 3.9% nationally and 2.8% within the state. In comparison, the U.S. unemployment rate between December 1948 and January 2022 averaged 5.78%.

Wisconsin has 72 counties. All but five counties had unemployment rates below the national average of 3.9% in December 2021. How many Wisconsin counties had a very low unemployment rate below 3.0% in December 2021? For extra credit, how many have an extremely low unemployment rate below 2.0% in December 2021?

A. 12

B. 63

C. 30

D. 70

E. 42