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Wisconsin has an abundance of job openings, but not enough workers to fill them. Now, elected officials and businesses are hoping to woo residents from nearby states by pitching a low cost of living, short commute times and what they say is a high quality of life.
“It’s great to have more people working in Wisconsin than ever before, but it creates a challenge,” said Tricia Braun, chief operating officer for the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. “We just essentially need more people.”
The worker shortage comes as the state is about to get even more jobs. Taiwan’s Foxconn Technology Group is investing $10 billion in a 20 million square-foot campus in southeastern Wisconsin that will make liquid-crystal-display screens like the ones used in smartphones, car dashboards and televisions. The facility is expected to employ as many as 13,000 workers. The state department of workforce development estimated there will be about 45,000 job openings without the workforce to fill them by 2024.
Wisconsin's Unemployment rate has been sub-3% all year; Madison's unemployment rate has been sub-2%. The state department of workforce development estimated there will be about 45,000 job openings without the workforce to fill them by 2024.
Soooo... Wisconsin is running ads in nearby states attempting to attract workers to relocate by focusing on a better quality of life, affordability, and cost-of-living.
If they want workers all they need to do is raise wages. Duh!
More complicated than that.
I'm from a small metro in Tennessee. Even today, the economy here, especially for skilled jobs and those >$15/hr or so, is pretty limited.
I was commuting 100 miles per day and making $16/hr back in 2011. I started looking at other places to move. The upper Midwest won out based on a comparison of cost of living, wages, and unemployment rates.
I landed in Iowa. Granted, I was 25 and had never lived outside the Southeast, and that was my first move out of the area without a partner. The "metrics" of it were pretty spot on. The "soft" parts of living in Iowa were impossible to predict. I didn't realize how much of a culture shock it was. How much I missed greenery. How bad the weather was. If I made the move today, I might have given it two years instead of one, and would have left more gracefully. Still, I didn't like it then and I doubt I would now. It was just not that desirable place to live in many respects.
A lot of people simply aren't going to be attracted to a cold place like Madison that is fairly small, isolated, and doesn't have a ton to do.
I'm from a small metro in Tennessee. Even today, the economy here, especially for skilled jobs and those >$15/hr or so, is pretty limited.
I was commuting 100 miles per day and making $16/hr back in 2011. I started looking at other places to move. The upper Midwest won out based on a comparison of cost of living, wages, and unemployment rates.
I landed in Iowa. Granted, I was 25 and had never lived outside the Southeast, and that was my first move out of the area without a partner. The "metrics" of it were pretty spot on. The "soft" parts of living in Iowa were impossible to predict. I didn't realize how much of a culture shock it was. How much I missed greenery. How bad the weather was. If I made the move today, I might have given it two years instead of one, and would have left more gracefully. Still, I didn't like it then and I doubt I would now. It was just not that desirable place to live in many respects.
A lot of people simply aren't going to be attracted to a cold place like Madison that is fairly small, isolated, and doesn't have a ton to do.
You are right. It is more complicated than that. But then they can increase wages to whatever it takes to get people to relocate there.
No money, no workee. And if companies can't afford to do so, then the beauty of capitalism's natural selection process kicks in. Companies that can't succeed will fail and new ones will take their place that can.
I'm from a small metro in Tennessee. Even today, the economy here, especially for skilled jobs and those >$15/hr or so, is pretty limited.
I was commuting 100 miles per day and making $16/hr back in 2011. I started looking at other places to move. The upper Midwest won out based on a comparison of cost of living, wages, and unemployment rates.
I landed in Iowa. Granted, I was 25 and had never lived outside the Southeast, and that was my first move out of the area without a partner. The "metrics" of it were pretty spot on. The "soft" parts of living in Iowa were impossible to predict. I didn't realize how much of a culture shock it was. How much I missed greenery. How bad the weather was. If I made the move today, I might have given it two years instead of one, and would have left more gracefully. Still, I didn't like it then and I doubt I would now. It was just not that desirable place to live in many respects.
A lot of people simply aren't going to be attracted to a cold place like Madison that is fairly small, isolated, and doesn't have a ton to do.
Stay AWAY from Illinois. Our minimum wage is about $8.50/hr (could be wrong on the exact amount) property taxes for a three bedroom house are $3000 in a small rural town and in places like Naperville, are $17,000. We have every tax, well, almost (they're trying to cook up a mileage tax now). So you do fine if you're rich or if you're on the dole, but if you're in between, you're being looted and robbed by the system.
Many companies are sitting on mountains of cash and executive compensation is through the ROOF (despite many of them not even deserving it) They deserve no sympathy. Frig em'
Play it cheap, don't expect a darn thing in return. Just expect high turnover and bottom of the barrel employees or all around worker shortages forever until you crash and burn.
Good People will move if the money is right and the company is solid with good reviews. . No one is going to pack up the U-Haul and run to these "great places of business" for tater-tots however.
Another problem with moving is no one is going to move just to fill a gap on a company's org chart for a few years only to get laid off after the place gets ran into the ground.
Personally though , I would never move long distance PERIOD for any type of private sector job unless it was ridiculous money. We all know Job security has ceased to exist in the private sector. Until these businesses show good faith that they aren't a central for turnover, mismanagement, and go through employees like water through a faucet, its a big risk moving for them IMO.
Wisconsin has always had a good job market for certain industries. If one is into outdoor activities, nature and greenery, and doesn’t need a large urban environment, it’s a great state to live as well. For us, even with it being next door, it wouldn’t meet our needs. We prefer to visit over a weekend to various areas in the state, but it’s not where we would live.
That said, I’m not relocating solely for a job. I will only seek a job in an area where I have an interest or decided to move. There’s a difference.
The caveat to that being that if I were still single and was truly struggling to find work and a good opportunity opened in another state, I would consider moving to a less desirable state from a survival point of view.
Wisconsin's state government has, over the last decade, done its best to strip down public education and worker protections. Is it really any surprise that given the choice, employable younger people would choose to settle elsewhere? Minnesota in particular is right next door and has pretty much all of Wisconsin's appealing aspects plus a stronger economy, better education and public services, better infrastructure, more stability, etc. at about the same cost of living.
Stay AWAY from Illinois. Our minimum wage is about $8.50/hr (could be wrong on the exact amount) property taxes for a three bedroom house are $3000 in a small rural town and in places like Naperville, are $17,000. We have every tax, well, almost (they're trying to cook up a mileage tax now). So you do fine if you're rich or if you're on the dole, but if you're in between, you're being looted and robbed by the system.
Naperville is a relatively affluent suburb of Chicago. If I'm stuck here in Tennessee making $12/hr, but can find a job making $25-$30/hr in Naperville, why wouldn't I go? It's not always about the taxes - it can also about be about the availability of jobs and what they pay.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Frostnip
Wisconsin's state government has, over the last decade, done its best to strip down public education and worker protections. Is it really any surprise that given the choice, employable younger people would choose to settle elsewhere? Minnesota in particular is right next door and has pretty much all of Wisconsin's appealing aspects plus a stronger economy, better education and public services, better infrastructure, more stability, etc. at about the same cost of living.
Wisconsin has had a history of being a relatively progressive state. It looks like Walker is going down, so the pendulum will probably be swinging back.
Last edited by Serious Conversation; 10-23-2018 at 06:55 AM..
Location: RI, MA, VT, WI, IL, CA, IN (that one sucked), KY
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I and most people I graduated with moved away from Wisconsin. I loved living there, but outside of Madison and Milwaukee its slim picking for your educated professionals, and even there, wages are low. I go back yearly as I love it so, but couldn't afford to stay, just not enough decent jobs and the pay was atrocious.
I love the driftless area, the people, the Friday night fish fries, the walleye fishing, the diversity of habitats, but there is a serious lack of culture outside of the two urban areas. The political shift (much of it caused by pushing out young educated professionals) and the attack on education hasn't helped it, and won't help it, attract a modern work force.
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