The economy and inflation have been top issues in this presidential election year. But a new report suggests that Wisconsin workers are doing relatively well and even exceeding expectations, despite inflation.
The report released by the High Road Strategy Center at UW-Madison, found rising wages and declining unemployment in Wisconsin.
"The labor market is strong in the sense that we've produced a lot of jobs —25,000 jobs over the past year—more today than in the past," says Laura Dresser, associate director of the center.
She continues, "The unemployment rate has stayed low, near under 3% for the last year ... And that I think it's important to see the ways that, that helps workers demand more when the the unemployment rate is low. People who are in jobs know that they're less easy to replace."
As Dresser explains, since 2019, wages at the median have grown faster than inflation. She says, "The disparity between the median worker and the low-wage worker is still huge, right? And the low-wage jobs still don't pay enough to get by. But the gap between the middle and the bottom of the labor market has closed over the last five years, and that's another place where we see the strength of this labor market."
Troy Brewer is a lead cook and union steward at the Fiserv Forum, who worked minimum wage jobs for nearly three decades.
"I started making $3.45 [per hour] when I started working and I've been in this for probably over 35 years. And now with the union job, I've surpassed all of that, but I would go four or five years with a quarter raise or sometimes not a raise at all," says Brewer.
To make ends meet Brewer would typically work three to four jobs at a time, limiting the time he had to spend with his family. But things have changed after he began working a union job.
"The billion dollar corporations and the people that make money off of you, they really don't care about you as a person. It's more so like, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. And with the union stuff, it balances out the power to make us even have a seat at the table," says Brewer.
The report found that raising the state minimum wage could have a dramatic impact on worker pay. Wisconsin's minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, which aligns with the federal minimum wage.
"Other states have just taken the federal inaction as a reason to take some action at the state level, and we need to do that. Illinois is already at $13 for their floor, and Michigan and Minnesota are well over $10.00 an hour for their floors," Dresser explains. "But raising that standard under the labor market matters a lot, and enforcing it. That way, we make sure that workers are actually paid."
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