Metro Milwaukee economy stalls
Chamber of Commerce: Environment ‘stagnant’
The greater Milwaukee area economy has been stagnant in the past several months, according to the Metropolitan Milwaukee Area of Commerce’s most recent analysis.
“The current economic environment in the metro area might best be characterized as stagnant with many critical indicators, particularly employment and manufacturing either flat or declining,” said Bret Mayborne, MMAC vice president of economic research.
“The next couple of months will be important in registering signs of improvement and pointing away from any talk of a regional recession.”
The MMAC monitors 23 different economic indicators and fewer than half trended upward during March.
Here are some of the highlights according to the MMAC:
● Overall job declines continued in March with a 0.8% year-over-year fall. March’s decline is marginally higher than the 0.7% decrease posted in February. Metro-area nonfarm payroll employment totaled 846,800 for March, down 7,000 from one year ago.
● Six of 10 major industry sectors posted job declines against year-ago levels.
Professional and business services registered the steepest job decline, down 6.3%. On the positive side, the construction, mining and natural resources (up 5%) and government (up 3.2%) sectors registered the strongest growth.
● March’s seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate rose 0.5 percentage points from one year ago to 3.6%. The current rate ranks below the nation’s 3.9% rate, but slightly higher than Wisconsin’s 3.5%. The number of unemployed rose 16.1% versus one year ago to 28,900 while new unemployment compensation claims fell 2.8%, to 3,024.
● Manufacturing hours and earnings indicators for production workers were mixed. The length of a production worker’s work week rose 4% in March to 36.2 hours, this indicator’s first year-overyear increase in eight months. Conversely, average hourly earnings for such workers dropped 10.5% versus year-ago levels while average weekly earnings fell 6.9%.
● Local area housing and real estate indicators were mixed. Existing home sales in metro Milwaukee rose 8.1% in March, this indicator’s third consecutive year-over-year gain. On the other hand, after a robust 17.7% gain in February, mortgages registered in Milwaukee County fell 2.4%.
● New-car registrations fell 4.3% in March to 941, but totals for the year’s first three months are up marginally from one year ago (+1.3%). Air passenger increases at Mitchell International Airport continued with a 14.1% gain in March to 603,547.