Manufacturing jobs fell in February from both a month earlier and a year ago, while construction jobs have increased, according to the state Department of Workforce Development. Mural depicting workers painted on windows of the Madison-Kipp Corp. by Goodman Community Center students and Madison-Kipp employees with Dane Arts Mural Arts. (Photo by Erik Gunn /Wisconsin Examiner)
The total number of Wisconsin jobs fell in February compared with January and also fell from the number in February 2025, the state labor department reported Thursday.
Meanwhile, employment was up in February compared with January, while it declined from February a year ago. The percentage of people who reported they were unemployed in February but actively seeking work rose from the previous month, however.
“I would hesitate to say, based on what we’ve seen so far with employment over [the past] year, whether we’re seeing a downward or an uptrend,” said Scott Hodek, section chief in the Department of Workforce Development office of economic advisors, in a briefing Thursday.
Shifting tariff policies and general economic volatility “are introducing a lot of noise in the economy right now,” Hodek said.
According to DWD, 3.02 million Wisconsinites were employed in February, an increase of 1,500 from January but a drop of 11,900 from February 2025. The unemployment rate, which includes people who report they are actively seeking work, rose to 3.4% in February from 3.3% in January.
There were 3.02 million nonfarm jobs in Wisconsin in February — down 10,500 from January and down 20,200 from February 2025.
“Any time we see a job drop it’s something we definitely want to pay attention to,” Hodek said. Current indicators are mixed and make it “difficult to parse where the economy is going,” he added. “You’ve got the [stock] market going one direction and you’ve got real consumer spending kind of flattening.”
There were 153,700 construction jobs in February, a gain of 800 from January and 10,200 from February 2025. There were 451,500 manufacturing jobs in February, down 100 from January and down 8,600 from February 2025.
“That’s related to multiple factors,” Hodek said, but declines “don’t always indicate the health of the industry.”
Automation, productivity increases and outsourcing can all lead to job reductions, he said. But the shrinkage can also reflect difficulty hiring, because the jobs numbers only show people who are working, not vacancies that employers are trying to fill, so “it can look like employment’s going down in manufacturing.”
Wisconsin’s job and employment numbers for January, February and March were delayed due to the annual adjustments made to the formulas that economists use to calculate them. Those delays were exacerbated by the federal shutdown in October and early November.
Wisconsin’s January numbers were released on April 2, and the March numbers will be released in two weeks on April 29.
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