Hourly wages in Wisconsin increased an average of 9.1% year-over-year in the first quarter, the strongest wage growth of any state in the country, but production workers in manufacturing are not seeing the benefits, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Wisconsin’s unemployment rate in March was 3%, unchanged from February. The labor force participation rate dipped a tenth to 65.6%, but remains nearly 3 percentage points ahead of the national rate.
The average hourly wage for the private sector in the state was $33.45 in March, a 9.1% increase from the prior year. Wisconsin also saw a 10.6% increase in February and a 7.6% increase in January.
The state has seen a steady ramp up in wage growth over the past year, averaging 3.3% in the first quarter of 2023, 3.8% in the second quarter, 5.4% in the third and 6% in the fourth.
Wisconsin’s wage growth in the most recent quarter was strongest in three sectors. In private education and health services, the average increase was 15.2%, reaching $34.66 an hour in March. Manufacturing averaged a 10.6% increase, reaching $32.54 per hour and financial activities averaged a 9.2% increase to reach $42.64.
Construction worker wages in Wisconsin were up 5.7% on average; trade, transportation and utilities wages in the state averaged a 6.3% increase and leisure and hospitality wages increased 7.3%.
One sector, professional and business services, did see a decrease in average hourly wages in Wisconsin. For the quarter, the sector averaged a decrease of 0.7%. Year-over-year, the average wage in the sector has been down every month since September.
The gains were not quite as strong when measured on the basis of average weekly wages. Across the private sector, Wisconsin averaged a 6.6% increase in weekly wages for the first quarter, good enough for third in the country.
On a weekly wage basis, financial activities saw the strongest growth, averaging a 13.2% increase in the first quarter. Private education and health care saw a 10.2% average increase for the quarter.
Manufacturing wages in Wisconsin, on the other hand, increased 5.3% on average.
For production workers specifically in the state, the weekly wage was down an average of 5.2% in the first quarter, including a drop from $995 in March 2023 to $957 this past month. That decrease occurred even as the average hourly wage for production workers in Wisconsin increased from $24.70 to $25.53. But weekly take home pay for production workers fell in the state because they were working fewer hours.
Average weekly hours for production workers in Wisconsin came in at 37.5 for March and has now been less than 40 for 12 straight months. It reached as low as 35.3 in January.
The average weekly wage for production workers has decreased year-over-year for seven straight months in Wisconsin.
The 5.2% decrease in the first quarter is the second worst in the country.