Year: 2023

“Wisconsin is part of a shrinking number of states using the federal standard to establish the wage floor,” COWS associate director and report co-author Laura Dresser said in a press release. “And while many workers have seen raises in recent years, we show that a stronger wage floor would reach hundreds of thousands of workers in the state.”

“This is a very pressing issue for many people in Wisconsin,” said Laura Dresser of the Center for Wisconsin Strategy, which has published “Can’t Survive on $7.25,” a report that explores the impact and issues of low wages for Wisconsinites.

Researcher Laura Dresser of the UW-Madison think tank Center On Wisconsin Strategy (COWS), says U.S. unions have both advantages and problems. Dresser says on the plus side, federal spending is starting to fund a lot of projects with union labor.

Most wages didn’t keep up with inflation in 2022, labor force participation among Wisconsin women fell to its lowest levels since the late 1980s and the state’s unionization rate continues to decrease. That’s according to a new report, titled “The State of Working Wisconsin 2023,” from the COWS economic think tank at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Wisconsin saw record job growth and low unemployment in 2022, while racial pay inequities eased. At the same time, inflation erased wage gains for many, women fell out of the workforce, and union activity dropped. We explore the State of Working Wisconsin 2023 with one of the report’s co-authors.

Still, COWS Associate Director Laura Dresser notes workers in the state are “seizing the opportunity” presented by the tight labor market to secure better jobs, or higher wages in their current position. Wisconsin’s unemployment rate hit a record-low 2.4 percent earlier this year before ticking up to 2.6 percent in July.

The State of Working Wisconsin 2023, published by COWS, a Wisconsin research and policy analysis center, paints a mixed picture of conditions for people who work for a living in the Badger State — hopeful and challenging at the same time.

“It’s especially evident that workers with lower wages have made the strongest gains,” says Laura Dresser, associate director of COWS, in a news release. “Their progress is helping reduce some of Wisconsin’s most troubling inequities.”