MONROE — Unemployment claims in the region jumped drastically in March and April since the state enacted stay-at-home measures related to COVID-19, according to a Southwest Wisconsin Workforce Development Board analysis of preliminary data.
Green County has been hit harder than other counties, showing about a 110% increase in unemployment claims compared to a 91% increase regionally and 84% increase statewide.
In Green County, in a four-week period from March 15 to April 12, comparing data from these weeks in 2019 to 2020, unemployment more than doubled, from 1,401 to 2,943.
In Lafayette County, unemployment claims during this period were 555 in 2019 and 1,088 in 2020. Grant County totaled 1,802 unemployment insurance claims for that four-week period in 2019, but in 2020 it ballooned to 3,625, more than double. Iowa County went from 1,597 last year to 2,806 this year, not quite doubling. Richland County nearly doubled from 754 in 2019 to 1,498 in 2020, while in Rock County, it was similar, going from 8,677 in 2019 to 16,252 in 2020.
In total, for the six counties, unemployment insurance claims for those four weeks jumped from 14,786 in 2019 to 28,212 in 2020.
Statewide, 618,082 claims were filed during this period in 2020 compared to 336,504 in 2019.
Nationwide, according to a labor market review by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the sectors most impacted by shutdowns related to COVID-19 are restaurants and bars, travel and transportation, entertainment, personal services like dentists and daycare providers, certain retail businesses including department stores and car dealers and some manufacturing, including aircraft and car factories.
Firms in the most exposed sectors tend to be smaller than firms in all other sectors. However, a substantial number of workers in the sectors directly affected by the shutdowns are employed by large firms with more than 500 employees, the review found.
Shutdowns are affecting low-wage workers more.
“Workers in the most-highly exposed sectors earn less than workers employed elsewhere. On average, wage earnings in exposed sectors make up 12.2% of total wage earnings, which is substantially less than the employment share (20%),” according to the review.
On April 16, Gov. Tony Evers extended Wisconsin’s “Safer at Home” order until May 26, explaining that it is saving lives and still necessary to slow the spread of COVID-19 to a manageable level.
Rhonda Suda, CEO of the Southwest Wisconsin Workforce Development Board, said in a statement that the COVID-19 crisis “is placing huge burdens on families, businesses and state and local resources. The unemployment numbers reflect this.”
She added, “Keep yourself and families safe. Stay home. When applying for unemployment, be patient yet persistent.”
The Southwest Wisconsin Workforce Development Board is one of Wisconsin’s 11 regional boards established by the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. It is responsible for the planning and oversight of the workforce system in southwest Wisconsin and represents the public-private nature of the system. The organization offers services through its job centers, including a Virtual Job Center at jobcenter.org.