In March, the average hourly wage for a private sector worker in Wisconsin was $29.80, up more than 6.9% from the same time in 2021, according to preliminary data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The reading marks the third straight month Wisconsin has seen year-over-year wage growth of more than 6%. For the first quarter, the state averaged 6.6% growth, good enough for 22nd in the country. New Mexico has the strongest growth over that period, averaging more than 10%.
This is the first time, in data going back to 2007, Wisconsin has seen wage growth over more than 6% in three straight months. The best months in the data came at 8% growth in April 2020, when the departure of thousands of lower wage workers from payrolls during the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic distorted the metrics.
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