New Jobs Data Shows Declining Growth In Wisconsin’s Private Sector

New numbers released by the state show Wisconsin added more than 24,000 private-sector jobs during the 12-month period ending in March.

These numbers come from unemployment insurance records, which are slow to get counted but are considered to be highly accurate. They showed that from March 2012 to March 2013, Wisconsin added 24,124 private-sector jobs – the slowest growth seen over that period in three years.

To put that in context, Wisconsin added 39,757 private-sector jobs in the same March-to-March period a year ago, and it added 41,350 private-sector jobs the year before that.

Broken down as a percentage, the numbers tell a similar story of slower hiring in Wisconsin. Private-sector jobs grew by 1.1 percent between March of last year and March of this year. They grew by 1.8 percent and 1.9 percent the two years prior.

Right now there’s no way to compare Wisconsin’s numbers to other states: The federal government won’t release a state-to-state comparison until late September.