Wisconsin, and many other states, are in a situation where unemployment is at all-time lows, but businesses are starving for employees. Department of Workforce Development Secretary Amy Pechacek says we’re in this situation because of trends decades in the making.
“Right now, we have more vacancies, about two-and-a-half vacancies, for every job seeker in Wisconsin,” she says. “We have our Baby Boomer Generation retiring, which has been exacerbated by the pandemic, we’ve had low birth rates for several generations, and we have had net-zero to negative migration to the state of Wisconsin over the past 10 years.”
Pechacek says DWD has several strategies in place to train and retain its resident workforce, such as apprenticeship programs.
“Wisconsin leads the way in apprenticeship,” she says. “We have record numbers of registered apprentices in both the adult and youth… and we’ve had a record number of employer participants in that apprenticeship program.”
DWD has more than 15,900 registered adult apprentices and nearly 8,000 youth apprentices. The programs include agriculture. It includes dairy grazing, vegetable production, diesel mechanics, veterinary sciences, and natural resources, to name a few. Pechacek says the door is open for employers to develop a new pathway or career.
She adds that investments in health care, housing, broadband, and other infrastructure can help attract working-age people into Wisconsin.
“Investing in that infrastructure… really make this a destination place for not only workers but young families,” she says. “This past year was one of the first years that we had more people moving to the state than leaving the state, but that doesn’t overcome that deficit that we’ve had over the past decade of more folks leaving.”
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