MILWAUKEE, Wis. (WTAQ) - Wisconsin added over 16,000 jobs last month – the largest one-month increase since 1996. But economists say the numbers are not as rosy as they seem.
Wells Fargo Bank economist Brian Jacobson of Milwaukee says many of the new jobs resulted from the federal economic stimulus package, and they’re not permanent. While many of the new jobs are in the private sector, he says they involve public sector work like road construction – and they appear to be artificially-induced by government spending.
Jacobson calls it a “stimulus sugar high.” He said the new jobs are not broad-based – and most gains were in construction, waste management, and administrative support.
Still, Wisconsin has added jobs for 4 straight months, for a total of almost 46,000 new positions including 4,200 factory jobs. As a result, the seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate fell 0.3 in the last month to 8.5 percent. That’s almost 1.5 percent below the national rate.
