Wisconsin Added 4K Private-Sector Jobs In October, According To State Estimates

Wisconsin added about 4,000 private-sector jobs in October, according to state estimates released on Thursday.

The estimates released in the Department of Workforce Development’s monthly jobs report bring Wisconsin’s year-to-date total for private-sector jobs added to almost 22,000 with two months to go in 2014. To put that in some context, Wisconsin has added in the ballpark of 30,000 private-sector jobs per year over the last three years.

The report also estimated that the state’s unemployment rate was at 5.4 percent, down from 5.5 percent the previous month. That’s the lowest since October of 2008, and falls below the national rate of 5.8 percent.

Adding Thursday’s numbers to more reliable quarterly numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows Wisconsin employers have created 115,000 jobs since Gov. Scott Walker took office. That’s still under half of the 250,000 jobs Walker promised to help create in his first term.