Like much of the rest of Wisconsin, unemployment continues to fall as the Department of Workforce Development released the May local jobless numbers.
Iron county remains second in the state with an unemployment rate at 9 percent, trailing only Menominee county. That number is lower than the 10 percent figure from one year ago. Other counties showed lower rates. Forest is at 7.3 percent, Vilas 6.7 percent, Oneida at 5.5 percent, Langlade 6 percent, Lincoln 4.9, and Price at 4.5. Most counties fell 1-2 percentage points from April and as state economist Beau Gellings reports, the current numbers are lower than one year ago...
"....every county, the unemployment number is down from a year ago last year. We're seeing more folks back in the work force.."
But Gellings says one cause for concern is the workforce numbers overall are not growing at a time when Baby Boomers are leaving the workforce. Gellings says those numbers show a downward trend as the summer tourist season hiring begins...
"...the counties we look at, unemployment is down. the only reason I hesitate as we look at Price county unemployment in April was 4.5 percent and in May it's 4.5...."
Wisconsin's preliminary seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for May 2015 is 4.6 percent, lower than the national average of 5.5 percent in May.
Average Initial Unemployment Insurance claims for the first 24 weeks of 2015 dropped to the lowest point since 1995, and the annual average weekly continued at their lowest levels since 2000.
