The Department of Workforce Development (DWD) today released the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) preliminary employment estimates for the month of March 2023, which showed Wisconsin’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped to a record low of 2.5%.
The total number of unemployed people dropped 6,400 over the month of March and 8,600 over the year to a new record low of 76,600. In addition, total seasonally adjusted nonfarm jobs increased 900 over the month of March and 41,400 year-over-year to hit a new record high of 2,997,900. The total jobs number puts the state 3,900 jobs above the pre-COVID-19 peak in January 2020.
Wisconsin’s record low unemployment rate of 2.5% for March is down 0.2 percentage points from February’s rate of 2.7%, which was the previous record low. The state’s labor force participation rate increased by 0.1 percentage point over the month to 64.6%. Nationwide for the month of March, the U.S. unemployment rate was 3.5% with a labor force participation rate of 62.6%.
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