Here & Now

Laura Dresser on the State of Working in Wisconsin in 2023

Zac Schultz:

Wisconsin job numbers reached a record high in July, at more than 3 million. However, a new report from COWS – High Road Strategy Center says beneath the bigger picture is a troubling decline of women participating in the workforce, falling below 60% for the first time since the late 1980s. Here to dive deeper into the report’s numbers is Laura Dresser, associate director at COWS. Thanks for joining us today.

Laura Dresser:

Thanks for having me.

Zac Schultz:

Your report shows Wisconsin’s economy is strong, unemployment’s low but there’s no economic news doesn’t come with a little bit of doubt and insecurity these days.

Laura Dresser:

Yeah, that is correct. Having done this report for many, many years now and releasing it on Labor Day, this has some really good news for workers but we have documented some really long-term trends that are troubling and see some new things here.

Zac Schultz:

When it comes to low unemployment with Wisconsin’s slow population growth and the projected shortage of workers, that low unemployment seems to be a permanent fixture, right?

Laura Dresser:

Our unemployment rate is always going to be lower than the national rate. A financial collapse will increase our unemployment numbers but ours also remain lower than the national, most likely, because of the demographic structure. That tightness in the labor market creates a little rebalancing of power between workers and employers. I think that is what we are seeing, is employers — er, workers know they have a credible exit threat. They can use that in the labor market. So that is true now, especially with these very historic low unemployment rates but will be true going forward as you point out because of demographics.

Zac Schultz:

Let’s talk about the women’s participation in the workforce and how closely is that connected to the legislative fight going on right now between Governor Evers and Republicans over childcare subsidies and just childcare issues in general?

Laura Dresser:

Well, I think that what we know is that right now in the state of Wisconsin we are very interested in seeing workers be part of this labor market, to embrace the opportunities and to move people from sitting on the sidelines or maybe watching what’s happening or maybe taking care of their kids into the labor market. What we see happening from this very high level, Wisconsin has always had much higher women’s labor force participation than the national average. This is especially true in late 1980s and on through the ’90s, but that gap just keeps closing and closing and really over the last three and four years, women’s labor force participation rate in the state is coming down more quickly than the slight drift down at the national level. It is closing that gap. It means that there is capacity to support women’s work and to get more engagement of women in this labor market. I think when you think about what can help women connect with work, it is childcare that makes, childcare systems that are strong so that fight is going on in the legislature right now. How do we invest in our childcare infrastructure?

Zac Schultz:

Can you say it is a market solution, like eventually someone will figure it out because they need people to work?

Laura Dresser:

Having watched childcare for so long, I think the sector requires public investment. We have massive public investment because children are a public good once they get to school, right? We all agree we are building the future and we all invest in schools. And that is how we have job quality in schools, teacher quality in schools that can really sustain decent jobs. But at the child — in the level of early care in education, the wages tend to be very low. Parents, especially parents in jobs that pay less than the median wage, half of the workers in less than median wage, have a really hard time meeting the cost of care so that takes a public investment. Right now we have a largely private solution and states that are taking on more and more public investment are getting that kind of system that can really support women’s work.

Zac Schultz:

One of the other issues you track is unions around the country and Wisconsin. We have seen fights with places as big as Amazon down to the local coffee shop. What is the situation in Wisconsin?

Laura Dresser:

Well, unions have been in a decades decline in their share of the workforce they represent. This is true nationally. It’s true in Wisconsin. Wisconsin used to be a relatively high, union density state, above national averages. 2011’s Act 10, the change in the terms of public sector unionization changed all that so that line began to tip after 2011. From 2011 to current, Wisconsin’s declining unionization far outstrips the national decline and is the worst in the region. So, yes, there’s — you know, workers are going to find ways to join together and to make their jobs better. You can see that all over the state and nation going on. Unions are increasingly popular but so far, the head winds against organizing especially in a right-to-work state with very hard public sector unionization rules as well, just makes actually turning that into members really hard.

Zac Schultz:

Just a few seconds left. Talk about the minimum wage of $7.25 in Wisconsin. It is even relevant to today’s conversations about the workforce?

Laura Dresser:

Such an important question. We all know the floor has really come up. Low-wage workers are doing better. They are doing their best of any group in the economy. Low-wage workers have made more wage gains, so the $7.25 is technically our minimum wage, like 20 states in the nation. But it really matters to raise that wage so that all workers, care workers and other workers know what the floor is.

Zac Schultz:

Laura Dresser from COWS, thank you so much for your time.

Laura Dresser:

Thanks for having me. Great to be here.

Zac Schultz:

For more on this and other issues facing Wisconsin, visit our website at PBSwisconsin.org and click on the news tab.