By the numbers
The trend in average weekly earnings of all Wisconsin private-sector employees as measured by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ monthly survey of employers:
The most recent available figure is for December 2023, and it is preliminary; all earlier monthly figures are final.
The figures graphed here are adjusted in two ways: They are inflation-adjusted to December 2023 dollars, using the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (that is, CPI-U), the index that the BLS uses in calculating real wages. The figures also are a 12-month rolling average to account for the BLS’ original figures being not seasonally adjusted.
News item: A survey of Wisconsin CEOs by the state’s chamber of commerce finds more pay is less likely. Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce’s winter survey, released in late January, found that the number of employers planning pay raises of 3% or less has risen to 24% of employers, up from 17% a year ago. Only 14% said they plan to give raises of more than 4%.
The findings come after a long period of inflation since early 2021 led to a decline in average real weekly earnings — that is, earnings after adjusting for inflation — for private-sector workers in Wisconsin.
The Badger Institute’s prior work has touched on Wisconsinites’ earnings — pointing out the link between economic freedom and wage growth, researching tax-reform options to goose our economy, examining barriers to Wisconsinites’ ability to work in fields they’re qualified for, and warning against cutting off the beginning rungs on the economic ladder. More recently, By the numbers has looked at the baked-in effect of inflation on consumers’ costs, the flip side of the erosion of wages.
The underlying numbers
Published in the Feb. 16 issue of Top Picks.
