Saturday, September 17, 2011

No shades necessary when looking at this employment landscape


Searching for Bright Spots in the New Wisconsin Job Creation Figures. (Wisconsin Budget Project, 9/16/2011)

Excerpt: It’s clear that overall, the Wisconsin economy is adding jobs more slowly than anyone would like. But how are individual industries doing? Are some adding jobs faster than others? To find out, I compared jobs figures for August 2010 and August 2011 (which are preliminary and subject to change) to identify any potential bright spots in the Wisconsin economy.

Unfortunately, even the good news is mixed. The industry in Wisconsin that added jobs at the fastest rate over the last year is what the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics refers to as “arts, entertainment, and recreation.” This category includes a wide variety of people working in businesses related to tourism, recreation, and leisure, including receptionists, security guards, groundsworkers, janitors, cashiers, and food service workers.

The good news is that over the last year, Wisconsin added 7,400 workers in the arts, entertainment, and recreation industry, increasing the number of jobs in this industry by a whopping 21 percent. The bad news is that these are low-paying jobs and are often seasonal or part-time
.  [Emphasis added.]

No comments: