Working Wisconsin

For the state’s workers, we find bad and good in the data this Labor Day. Job growth has stalled. Wisconsin has fewer jobs today than November of 2024 when the state reached a record high. Unemployment remains quite low but has been rising slowly overall and increasing the most for the state’s Black workers. These are warning signs: the economy is cooling, and workers’ bargaining power may be cooling with it. Still in 2025, wages reached a record high of $26.17 per hour. The steady wage growth of the last decade stands in contrast to declines and stagnation in much of the preceding 35 years. That is good news. But in 2026 inflation is outrunning wages, possibly bringing wages down next year. The low unemployment rate is good news, but the loss of jobs, increasing unemployment for Black workers, and surging inflation suggest this is a fragile moment in the economy.

The short-term picture is mixed, and as we’ve long documented, the long-term trends include deep problems of rising inequality and poor job quality for lower-wage workers. The state economy is riddled with inequalities by geography, race, education, and gender. Work doesn’t guarantee access to decent pay, predictable schedules, health insurance, or a decent standard of living for families, especially for the state’s lowest wage workers. These workers have gained ground in recent years. They still face impossible choices just to make ends meet. By building the collective voice of workers, unions improve wages and working conditions. However, Wisconsin state policies have undermined unions, and despite increasing interest in and support for them, the state’s unionization has collapsed much more rapidly than in neighboring states.

Surging prices leave more and more working Wisconsinites unable to cover the basics. Even a relatively modest standard of living can be beyond the reach of two full-time workers and recent price increases for gas and utilities are increasing the stress. One in three of the state’s working families face impossible decisions covering basic needs. Federal policy is exacerbating affordability problems as divestment from health care and food programs reduces support for families, even as tariffs and surging energy prices raise costs. While the question of affordability is generally framed as a problem of the cost of living, the problem is equally or even better understood as a problem of suppressed pay. Raising the minimum wage and making it easier to join a union would both increase paychecks.

Wisconsin’s immigrant community makes enormous contributions to our state economy. More than 320,000 immigrants in the state contribute $23 billion to the state’s economy each year. These workers have faced increasing fear and uncertainty as the federal government has pursued a massive deportation campaign. The campaign is enormously expensive, and recent research finds it drags employment down across the board. The average Wisconsin taxpayer is paying $1,728 for the federal deportation agenda – tax money that could be used to make health care, child care, and food more affordable. And for every 1000 arrests, negative employment effects spill over to immigrant workers and to non-immigrants as well.

For working people in Wisconsin, the Labor Day 2026 picture is mixed. While overall unemployment remains low, the state isn’t adding jobs and Black unemployment is growing. While the median wage has reached an all-time high, surging inflation in 2026 means that wage growth is likely coming to an end. The stress of increasing prices has Wisconsinites focused on affordability, and federal policies are making many things less affordable. There are bright spots. But the clouds are gathering.