JobsStat

A new report found that those looking for jobs in Milwaukee and throughout Wisconsin could benefit from training for middle-skill positions. Visit http://milwaukee.jobing.com to learn more about Milwaukee jobs.

The report – from The Joyce Foundation, Ford Foundation and Milwaukee Area Workforce Funding Alliance – suggests that the State of Wisconsin should invest in more training to prepare workers who will be needed for about 500,000 new and replacement jobs expected to open by 2016. Those jobs will require education beyond high school but short of a four-year college degree.

The report further suggests the state could gain a competitive advantage in economic recovery if businesses and policy-makers use the current national recession as a time to provide skills training for workers capable of filling the expected available positions.

The study also found that:

• So-called “middle-skill jobs” will account for 46 percent of all openings between now and 2016
• Shortages in manufacturing and healthcare will increase. A survey of the healthcare workforce in central Wisconsin found that more than 25 percent of workers plan to retire within 10 years, and 28 percent of those workers are nurses
• Middle-skill jobs expected to grow in Wisconsin include police and sheriff’s patrol officers, with an average annual wage of $45,269; carpenters, with an average annual wage of $38,760; and registered nurses, with an average annual wage of $57,376

Milwaukee has continued to lose jobs as of late, despite the fact that the area’s unemployment rate has begun to decline.

During September, the Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis area saw its unemployment rate decrease from 9.3 percent to 8.5 percent, which is lower than the national unemployment rate of 9.8 percent. The area’s unemployment rate has consistently declined since July.

The area had a total non-farm employment of 804,600 workers during September, according to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is down from 806,900 workers during August and a 5.8 percent decrease from last year.

Tags: Jobs in Milwaukee

This entry was posted on Monday, November 2nd, 2009 at 8:53 am and is filed under Job Search. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.