Help Wanted In Wisconsin

To solve a worker shortage the State of Wisconsin is hoping to put out the “Help Wanted” sign. To that end the State Senate’s Economic Development Committee today will discuss a bill that would allow the state to advertise for workers in other states. State Senator Dan Feyen of Fond du Lac notes the number of job openings currently posted can’t all be filled by people living in the state. He says, “Right now there’s over 85,000 jobs listed on the Job Center of Wisconsin website. That’s only the jobs listed there. The number is probably up over 100,000. These are all good-paying jobs. There are some jobs on there that are minimum wage paying jobs, but most of those jobs are really good paying jobs, family supporting jobs right here in our area.” The state’s unemployment rate in December was 3 percent. Fond du Lac County had a jobless rate of 2.3 percent and Winnebago County 2.5 percent. Feyen says it is hard to find workers with those types of numbers. Feyen notes the bill would also include money to retain workers and to help employ veterans.