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For more than two decades, the State of Working Wisconsin has presented the workers’ perspective on the economy in the state: who is winning, and who is being left out; where is disparity growing; and what’s happening to the economic chasm separating Black and white workers in the state.

As we head into our second Labor Day of the pandemic, the State of Working Wisconsin report will still focus on how working people are doing and continue to shine a spotlight on the state’s brutal Black-white disparities. We bring back focus on wages and unions this year but also share update worker experiences to crystalize the human costs.

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Jobs: Available Now!

In part one of four, we’re discussing the jobs outlook for working people this Labor Day: how many we have, who has them, and who doesn’t.

Read Now

Coming Soon

Unions: 9/1

In part two of four, we show how the state’s union history has been undermined by policy over the past decade, and how this diminishes the power and voice of workers across the state.

Wages: 9/2

For the three million Wisconsinites who have jobs, wages are the most important measure of the quality of those jobs. In part three of four, we will discuss why wages matter.

Worker Experiences: 9/3

Last year we spoke to workers to better understand what their experience has been, as well as the impact of policies (or lack thereof) at the state and federal levels. We check back in with a few of them to hear what's changed, and what hasn't, since then.

Black-white Disparities

Before the COVID-19 crisis, Black-white disparities in Wisconsin were among the worst in the nation. COWS documented these disparities in our 2019 report, Race in the Heartland. As COVID-19 has widened Black-white gaps nationally, Wisconsin’s racial divide, already pronounced, is likely growing as well. The response to the crisis and the recovery must focus on racial justice.

Read ‘Race in the Heartland’

Infant Mortality

Black babies are 3x more likely to die than white babies. The mortality rate for Black babies is the highest in the nation.

Child Poverty

One of every three Black children live in poverty, a rate that is 3.5 times higher than that of white children.

Bachelors Degrees

Whites more than twice as likely as Black Wisconsinites to hold BAs. This is the highest racial disparity in the country.

Incarceration

Black Wisconsinsites are more than 11 times more likely to be incarcerated than are their white neighbors.

Employment

85 percent of prime age whites are employed, compared to 61 percent of Black people of the same age.

Income

The median African American household annual income, $29,000, is a bit less than half the white level.

Home Ownership

More than 70 percent of white families own their homes. At the same time, just 27 percent of Black families do.

Voter Participation

In the 2016 election, 74 percent of eligible white voters showed up to the polls. Just 47 percent of eligible Black voters did.

Jobs

In part one of four, we’re discussing the jobs outlook for working people this Labor Day: how many we have, who has them, and who doesn’t.

Unions: Coming 9/1

In part two of four, we show how the state’s union history has been undermined by policy over the past decade, and how this diminishes the power and voice of workers across the state.