Wisconsin’s unemployment rate dropped to 3.7 percent in February, the lowest it’s been since November of 2000.
The figure comes from a monthly survey of Wisconsin households by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It estimated the number of people employed the state went up in February while the number of people unemployed went down.
Gov. Scott Walker held a capitol news conference to celebrate the news.
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“To put that in perspective, the last time it was this low, Tommy Thompson was still working in that office and Bill Clinton was still president of the United States,” Walker said.
A separate monthly survey of employers also showed the state added jobs in February.
More detailed numbers will be released later this year. Those have repeatedly shown that Wisconsin’s job creation rate has lagged most other states.
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