The State of Working Wisconsin
The State of Working Wisconsin 2026: 30 Years of Tracking Wisconsin’s Economy
For 30 years, The State of Working Wisconsin has tracked the economic realities facing Wisconsin workers and families. This year’s report finds both progress and growing challenges: median wages have reached a record high, but job growth has stalled, racial and gender disparities persist, unionization has declined, and one in three working families faces substantial financial hardship.
Check out The State of Working Wisconsin 2026
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State of Working Wisconsin 2025
In 2025, we release The State of Working Wisconsin 2025, a report on how working people are faring across the state. The report highlights strengths such as record-high median wages and a robust labor market, while also underscoring challenges including slow job growth, deep inequalities, declining unions, and major disruptions from federal policy.
From Community Benefits, to Collective Bargaining, and Back
Community Benefits Agreements can yield strong results from public investments in private projects like stadiums. Milwaukee's first CBA established labor peace and enabled workers to form MASH. This report showcases how MASH has improved employment and job quality standards for service workers in Milwaukee's Deer District and beyond.
Covering the Bases
Cities across the country routinely make investments in stadiums, such as the Kansas City Royals, despite ample evidence that communities don’t secure promised economic returns. In this paper, we draw on national evidence and experience in Milwaukee to help inform the public discussion in Kansas City.
High Road Strategy Center in the News
New report offers a mixed economic outlook for Wisconsin workers in 2026
The United States’ economic outlook has many people concerned. On Sept. 16, the Fed raised interest rates for the first time in three years. Some experts are predicting the end of the AI bubble, and U.S.-Israeli war with Iran is raising prices on goods of all kinds. Closer to home, the outlook for Wisconsin’s workers seems to be less dire — but still mixed. That’s according to the latest “State of Working Wisconsin,” a report compiled each year by UW-Madison's High Road Strategy Center.
September 21, 2026Wisconsin workers see higher wages, fewer jobs, increased disparities
The economic landscape for workers is mixed, according to the “State of Working Wisconsin,” an annual report released on Sept. 4 by the High Road Strategy Center, a University of Wisconsin-Madison think tank.
September 9, 2026Wisconsin workers see higher wages, fewer jobs, increased disparities
The economic landscape for workers is mixed, according to the “State of Working Wisconsin,” an annual report released on Sept. 4 by the High Road Strategy Center, a University of Wisconsin-Madison think tank.
September 8, 2026- More