Benchmarked Wisconsin Private Nonfarm Payroll Declines

While the BLS state level data will come out on Monday (see discussion here), the individual states release slightly earlier. Wisconsin released employment data today.

Figure 1: Annualized three month growth rate of private nonfarm payroll employment, benchmarked as measured in January 2016 (black), seasonally adjusted Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (red), and as reported in December 2015 release (teal); all percent changes calculated as log differences. Light green area denotes dates that do not incorporate contemporaneous QCEW data. QCEW data seasonally adjusted using ARIMA X12 implemented in EViews. Source: DWD1, DWD2, BLS, author’s calculations.

There is in the release no mention of the decrease in employment, now in the third month. The release reads:

“The state’s January 2016 unemployment rate is, in large part, a reflection that Wisconsinites are seeing opportunity and entering the labor market,” Secretary Allen said. “The state’s labor force participated at a higher rate and more Wisconsinites entered the job market in January when compared to December. At the Department of Workforce Development, our focus will remain on equipping workers with skills to fill openings as the private sector continues to add tens of thousands of jobs every year.”