The highest rate in 19 years. Ouch.
The city of Green Bay’s unemployment rate reached a 19-year high last month, increasing to 13 percent from 11.9 percent in February.
The March unemployment rate is the highest recorded in Green Bay between 1990 and the present, according to state Department of Workforce Development statistics. The previous high was the February rate of 11.9 percent. The lowest rate, 3 percent, came in September and October 1999.
More than 1,000 people in the Green Bay area joined the unemployed in March, according to the latest report from the state Department of Workforce Development.
The Green Bay metro rate is just shy of 10%.
The unemployment rate in the Green Bay Metropolitan Statistical Area — which includes Brown, Oconto and Kewaunee counties — was 9.2 percent in March, meaning 15,699 people out of 171,128 available workers were without jobs. The unemployment rate was 8.4 percent in February and 4.9 percent one year ago.
“Wisconsin counties and local areas, like the state, are feeling the impact of the global economic challenges facing everyone,” said Roberta Gassman, Workforce Development secretary.
The statewide rate – 9.4%
Statewide, the unemployment rate rose to 9.4 percent in March from 8.8 percent the month before. That’s the highest rate in 26 years and amounts to about 290,000 people without jobs out of a workforce of 3 million.
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