Childcare was a challenge for parents before the pandemic and has only become more difficult in recent months. During the pandemic, as much as 60% of childcare providers closed and stopped providing childcare (Bipartisan Policy Center, 2020). While many of those closures were temporary, a recent state-level study estimates that, in absence of additional aid, 30% of the childcare supply in Wisconsin could be permanently lost if providers are closed for more than two weeks without revenue due to COVID-19.
The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted Wisconsin’s economy. When the country reported the first case on January 20th, 2020, there was uncertainty as to how fast and far the virus would spread. On March 11th, the World Health Organization declared a pandemic and on March 16th all Wisconsin public schools were ordered to close while Governor Tony Evers instituted a Safer-at-Home order and closure of all non-essential businesses.
Recent analysis demonstrates that communities of color are disproportionately suffering the health impacts of COVID-19. In Milwaukee County, 29 percent of the population is Black or African American yet Black or African Americans represent 43 percent of COVID-19-related deaths1. Much like the poor health outcomes from COVID-19 are disproportionately suffered by people of color, the economic costs are likely also inequitably distributed across racial and ethnic groups.
Summary Steven Deller discusses the importance of a systems thinking approach – how the elements of a system are interconnected and influence each other – in community economic development. Webinar Recording Additional Materials Community Economic Development: A Systems Thinking Approach PowerPoint Explore Our Lunch-n-Learn Series
The growth in student debt in the United States has become a cause for concern. At the beginning of 2006, student debt, or loans taken out to pursue higher educational opportunities, was approximately $481 billion. By the beginning of 2019, that amount has grown to nearly $1.6 trillion (Figure 1a). While student loan debt remains smaller than consumer credit debt ($4.1 trillion) or mortgage debt ($15.5 trillion), the rate of growth of student debt is alarming.
Numerous communities across Wisconsin encourage and support resident participation in local initiatives. These are places with high volunteerism rates where members can undertake constructive conversations about issues facing the community. Newcomers, along with their ideas and input, are welcomed. Sometimes, it is said that these communities have high levels of “social capital”.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY October 2019 — The intent of this study is to update prior analysis documenting the contribution of hospitals to the Wisconsin economy. For this update we use the most recently available data (2016) and expand the analysis to also consider non-hospital related health care sectors. The health care sector remains one of the […]
August 2019 — In recent decades, significant resources have been devoted to entrepreneurship, and studies find net annual job creation is positive only for startups (Economic Innovation Group, 2017; Conroy and Deller, 2015). As a result, growth potential of existing firms is sometimes overlooked. Expansions, existing firms adding jobs, create 75% of gross new employment […]
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY October 2019 — This study provides an update of the Contribution of Agriculture to the Wisconsin Economy undertaken by Deller (2014) using data for 2017, the most current available. Despite currently weak commodity prices, particularly within dairy, agriculture (defined to include on-farm activities, food processing, forestry and horticulture) remains an important part of […]
July 2019 — Patterns of uneven economic growth and development across the U.S. have been well established in the popular press and academic literature. Some states, such as Mississippi, Alabama and New Mexico, continue to experience higher rates of poverty, lower rates of worker productivity, and modest income growth. Other states, such as Arizona, Colorado […]
June 2019 — Much attention has been paid to the role of entrepreneurship as a source of job creation in recent years. While this is warranted, expansions of existing businesses are also inseparable from job creation and economic growth. In terms of gross job creation, firm expansions contribute a significantly higher number of jobs than […]
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY May 2019 — The following analysis explores the status of manufacturing in Wisconsin by examining long term trends and benchmarking against comparable states in the Midwest region and the U.S. more generally. Key Findings: Despite fluctuations, the recent number of manufacturing jobs in Wisconsin is close to the level in 1970 at 500,000. […]
