MADISON — The Department of Workforce Development (DWD) today released the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) preliminary employment estimates for the month of January 2022. The data shows that Wisconsin’s unemployment rate was 3.0% in January, down from December 2021’s rate of 3.1%. The data also showed that Wisconsin’s labor force participation rate in January 2022 was 66.4%.

Place of Residence Data: Wisconsin’s labor force participation rate in January was 66.4%, 4.2 percentage points higher than the national rate of 62.2%. Wisconsin’s unemployment rate in January 2022 was 3.0%.

Place of Work Data: Wisconsin total nonfarm jobs decreased from December 2021 to January 2022 by 100, while private-sector jobs decreased by 2,900 over the same time period. From January 2021 to January 2022, Wisconsin added 42,300 nonfarm jobs and 40,100 private sector jobs.

“Wisconsin’s low unemployment and high labor force participation rates reflect a strong economic recovery as we leave this phase of the COVID-19 pandemic behind,” said DWD Secretary-designee Amy Pechacek. “At the same time, we know many employers are struggling to hire and retain employees. DWD’s enhanced online Job Center of Wisconsin offerings and regional business services teams can help employers connect with skilled candidates and previously underutilized talent pools.”

In addition to the January statewide data, BLS also recently published “benchmarked” estimates for the monthly employment and unemployment data sets covering 2021 and prior years. The benchmarking process is designed to bring the sample-based series into closer alignment with the actual job counts from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW).

The QCEW and other data are used to realign the survey data and to recalibrate the estimation model that is then driven by the monthly survey data. The recalibrated model is used with the current survey data to estimate the monthly numbers until the next benchmarking realignment.