Unemployment rose a bit in January, but still falls below jobless levels of one year ago.
Northwoods numbers finds Iron county with the third-highest rate at 9.4 percent, Forest and Vilas counties at 8.4, Oneida at 7.5, Langlade at 7.3, Lincoln at 5.9, and Price at 5.6 percent. All of those numbers are even to or about one percentage point lower than January of 2015.
State Labor Market Economist Ryan White of Wausau seasonal business shutdowns affected the rate...
"....we do see an increase in the number of unemployed, an increase in the unemployment rate, as well as the number of employed decreasing. This is normal for this time of the year. Weather dependent do tend to see decreases in employment over the first months of the year...."
White outlines January's trends in the Northwoods...
"....for the area consisting of Oneida, Vilas, Lincoln, Langlade and Forest counties, we do see declines in the number of employed, the number unemployed and the the unemployment rate. The unemployment rate has dropped four-tenths of a percentage point during this time...."
All of Wisconsin's 72 counties have higher actual unadjusted jobless rates than the previous month.
Bayfield County, one of the state's major tourist areas, is the only one with double-digit unemployment at ten-point-five percent -- an increase of almost two full percentage points from December. Madison and Dane County have the state's lowest county rate at three-point-five percent.
