By the numbers
Consistently rising pay, at least in pre-inflation terms, characterizes Wisconsin’s manufacturing sector over the long term.
Weekly average earnings are released monthly by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. As of September, the average weekly earnings of all people employed in Wisconsin’s manufacturing sector was $1,343 — well above the average weekly earnings for everyone employed in the private sector in Wisconsin, which was $1,123.
The average has risen and fallen from month to month, but it has been marked by several periods of sustained year-over-year growth exceeding 4 percent. Most of 2010 saw such growth, and in the year and a half from December 2016 through May 2018, the average month showed 4.8 percent growth over the same month the year before. A 10-month stretch starting in April 2023 saw average year-over-last growth of 6 percent, though that period trailed the spiking in inflation that began in 2021. The nation’s rate of inflation soared starting in March 2021, reaching 9.1 percent in June 2022 and not falling below 4 percent again until June 2023.
The manufacturing sector average is about 36 percent higher, before inflation adjustment, than it was 10 years previous. Adjusting for inflation, the average is 2.7 percent lower than in September 2016.
The BLS figures are not seasonally adjusted.
Patrick McIlheran is executive editor at the Badger Institute.
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