August 2021, authored by Laura Dresser, Joel Rogers, and Adam Kanter.
Released for Labor Day 2021, the State of Working Wisconsin report focuses on how working people are doing and continues to shine a spotlight on the state’s brutal Black-white disparities.
A project of COWS, the State of Working Wisconsin has presented the workers’ perspective on the economy in the state for more than two decades: 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.
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Jobs
In part one of four, we’re discussing the jobs outlook for working people: how many we have, who has them, and who doesn’t.
Unions
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
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
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.