By Mario Koran, Wisconsin Watch Tracy Long of Fond du Lac County is no stranger to Wisconsin’s unemployment system. With 30 years of experience in manufacturing, she’s been subject to the ebbs and flows of the industry. Long says she has applied for unemployment aid dozens of times in the past three decades. But after […]
Tag: Unemployment
Posted inCORONAVIRUS
Will the end of pandemic-related unemployment benefits ease Wisconsin’s worker shortage?
By Nusaiba Mizan, Green Bay Press-Gazette Green Bay resident Jarrett Brown, a labor activist, and former union steward believes there’s dignity and pride in work. He never applied for unemployment benefits in nearly two decades of working — until the pandemic. He was unemployed from June to September 2020 and again from December to March. […]
Posted inCORONAVIRUS
‘We aren’t a bunch of lazy people’: Rejoining workforce isn’t easy for some who lost jobs to COVID-19
By Bram Sable-Smith, WPR/Wisconsin Watch Karen Miller wants to work. Ideally, the 65-year-old would return to her old job of digitizing government documents for Data Dimensions in Janesville, Wisconsin. But she can’t. The company laid her off in March 2020 — temporarily at first — when COVID-19 struck. The layoff became permanent last summer after the […]
Posted inCORONAVIRUS
‘I got nothing left’: Wisconsin’s jobless pushed to brink as ideas swirl for mending torn safety net
By Bram Sable-Smith WPR/Wisconsin Watch Brandon Cacek filed for unemployment insurance in mid-March last year after losing his substitute teaching job due to the pandemic. He’s still waiting for that crucial aid 11 months later. “I keep leaving out hope that I’m going to get some kind of assistance through this,” said Cacek, 40, a […]
Posted inGovernment, Local news
Thousands await jobless aid as Wisconsin leaders blame each other for failure
By Marty HobeTMJ4 Newsand Bram Sable-SmithWisconsin Watch/WPR As Wisconsin businesses shuttered this spring to slow the spread of COVID-19, jobless filings and phone calls flooded the state Department of Workforce Development — too quickly for staffers to keep up. But DWD Secretary Caleb Frostman remained optimistic. In a May 4 email, Frostman told Unemployment Insurance Division […]
Posted inGovernment, Local news
Federal Lost Wages Assistance Available
MADISON – The Federal Lost Wages Assistance (LWA) Program is now available to eligible state residents. LWA provides an additional $300 weekly unemployment benefit to individuals unemployed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in August and September. The program was announced last month and the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) started processing payments on Sept. […]
Posted inGovernment, Local news
State Applies for Fed Unemployment Grant; Could Add $300 to Weekly Benefit
MADISON — The Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development on Friday applied for federal funding that could add $300 to the weekly unemployment benefits received by eligible residents. The grant application is for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Lost Wages Assistance Program, a disaster relief intuitive that includes assistance to workers who have lost jobs because of the […]
Posted inGovernment, Local news
As the nation reckons with race, a mother awaits unemployment aid — and Wisconsin officials lack research
Alfreida Casterlow could hardly bear her first weeks working from home during the coronavirus pandemic. Disrupted routines upset her 20-year-old autistic daughter. Casterlow, 43, would try to keep her daughter engaged. She would lie alongside her, rubbing her forehead to soothe her — all while continuing to operate switchboards for Northwestern Mutual in Milwaukee. Then […]
Posted inBusiness, Employment, Government, Local news
Wisconsin’s Unemployment Crisis: Why so many are still waiting
MILWAUKEE, WI — Unemployment has hit Wisconsin residents hard. So hard that DeiDra Blakley sat on the floor of her Milwaukee apartment on Wednesday counting the loose change she saves in a jar. Blakely has been out of work for more than 13 weeks, and despite applying for unemployment insurance benefits in Wisconsin, she has […]
Posted inEmployment, Resources, Sponsored
The Open Jobs Disparity
In recent months, news headlines have been full of estimates about the jobs that are going to be created in the Southeast Wisconsin region, and it seems that a favorite bar topic is whether or not Foxconn is going to create 13,000 jobs “as promised.” Just as unemployment numbers are slippery and inaccurate, jobs creation […]
Posted inEmployment, Wisconsin Jobs
Uplift 900 employment begins outreach effort
Looking for employment opportunities, news about employment or training and education opportunities? Check out our Eye on Employment page by clicking on the graphic above. With Foxconn Technology Group building a 20 million square foot manufacturing campus, utilities building out infrastructure projects, and the need for permanent hires once the building is complete — the opportunities for […]
Posted inBreaking
Unemployment: Caledonia and Racine Represent 2 Different Stories
The unemployment rate in Caledonia and Racine over the past 10 years has been a tale of two very different municipalities as Racine has had the highest while Caledonia has almost always enjoyed the lowest. Meanwhile, Mount Pleasant has largely been stuck in the middle of the two communities. The rate — which were not […]
Posted inCommunity
Despite Drop, Racine Tops Unemployment Rate List
Despited seeing improvements in its unemployment rate, Racine still topped the list with the highest unemployment rate in the state and Caledonia had the lowest unemployment rate. However, the employment outlook is starting to look better. Racine’s unemployment rate was 6.1 percent in Sept., a 1.7 percent decrease compared with the same period a year ago, according […]
Posted inBreaking
Racine County Unemployment Rate Remains High, Despite Overall State Progress
Racine County’s unemployment rate increased slightly to 8.7 percent in March, a .3 percent increase over February, according to the Department of Workforce Development. Meanwhile, Wisconsin fared better after it added thousands of jobs and the unemployment rate is at a five-year low at 5.9 percent in March 2014, down .2 percent from February. Still, […]