Unemployment rates in Wisconsin metro areas dip in warmer weather

The unemployment rate in the four-county region that includes Milwaukee and Waukesha counties dipped to an estimated 3.2% in April from 3.7% in March and 4.4% in April a year ago, according to preliminary data Wednesday by the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development.

At 3.7% in the latest month, Milwaukee County, with its de-industrialized urban core, was harder hit than suburban Waukesha County, which had an estimated unemployment rate of 2.6%. The other two suburban counties in the metro area also were lower: Ozaukee at 2.5% and Washington County at 2.4%.

Metro-area jobs data is notoriously imprecise and prone to significant revisions.

Unlike state and federal data, unemployment rates for cities and counties do not account for seasonal patterns such as school vacations, warming temperatures and increases in in tourism, vacations and construction. That means that unadjusted unemployment rates nearly always improve amid warm weather months.

The jobless rate in April fell in every one of the state's 12 main metro areas from March. Madison's metro area came in lowest at 2.1% in April, while the metro area with the highest estimated unemployment rate was Racine, with 3.85.

Of the state's 72 counties, unemployment rates were markedly worst across rural northern Wisconsin, dominated by timber, forestry and paper mills. Thirteen far northern counties led the state with jobless rates that ranged as high as  an estimated 7.4% in Iron County, worst in the state, the data show. 

Seasonal adjustments make it easier to compare one month to the next, and therefore to track economic trends, because they smooth out recurring annual fluctuations related to changes in weather or school holidays. Separate statewide estimates released one week ago, which do account for seasonal factors, also showed markedly sharp improvements in the statewide unemployment rate in Wisconsin, which fell to a seasonally adjusted 17-year low of 3.2% in April from 3.4% in March and 4.1% a year earlier.