Overview

The Projections Unit of the Office of Economic Advisors develops both long-term and short-term outlooks of employment in Wisconsin's industries and occupations. Projections employment includes nonagricultural wage and salary employment; workers in private households, agriculture, forestry, fishing, hunting, trapping, and self-employed workers (SE) are included. Employment trends in approximately 300 industries and 770 occupations are examined.

The long-term projections are for ten years out into the future and are updated every two years. The short-term projections are for two years into the future and are updated annually. Projections are done for Wisconsin as a whole and for Workforce Development Areas (WDA).

Long-term projections assist customers in long-run planning, while short-term projections help inform customers of more immediate employment conditions. Students, job seekers, and counselors may use the projections to explore employment in occupations and industries. Educational institutions may use occupational projections to evaluate degree and/or course offerings. Researchers may use the data in analyses of Wisconsin's labor market. Employers may use the data to examine expected employment in industries and occupations.

Visit Understanding Wisconsin's Job Outlook: Industry & Occupation Projections in Brief (pdf) for a review of the 2020-2030 projections or Wisconsin Recovery Report(pdf) for a review of the 2023-2025 short term projections.

Long-Term Projections 2020-2030

The 2020-30 projections give employment levels, numeric change, and percent change over the timeframe for industries and occupations in the state. The occupational projections show annual exits, transfers, and total openings. Also contained in the occupational data are typical education, training, and experience along with wages broken out by specified percentiles.

The current 10-year projections come with an important caveat due to employment anomalies during the 2020 base year resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 downturn significantly impacted employment patterns in Wisconsin and across the globe. The U.S. lost some 22 million jobs while Wisconsin lost over 400,000 jobs in two months. Industries such as Leisure & Hospitality saw significant losses. The subsequent recovery was fairly rapid but incomplete during 2020, leaving 2020 job levels below historical trends.

Based on the long-term employment projections for the period 2020-30, Wisconsin is projected to add 191,222 jobs for all occupations from 2020 to 2030, a 6.3% growth rate, reaching 3,231,419 total jobs. This involves 360,835 annual openings due to 134,154 job exits, 207,559 job transfers, and 19,122 new jobs. The relatively large increases are due to recovery of the many jobs lost during the Covid-19 induced recession as 2020 served as the base year.

Projected job levels may be constrained by worker availability as Wisconsin's workforce, as is the case with most other states, and developed countries, is being limited by slow workforce growth as an offshoot of an aging population.

This program is funded by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (ETA).

Projections Portal

Projections of occupational employment growth are developed for all states and the nation as a whole. One of the most important uses of the projections is to help individuals make informed career decisions. Information on this site allows projected employment growth for an occupation to be compared among States. It also allows projected employment growth among occupations to be compared within one state.


Projections Central

Data Used to Create Projections

  • U.S. Census Bureau
  • Current Employment Statistics (CES)
  • Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW)
  • Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics (OEWS)
  • Current Population Survey (CPS)
  • BLS Employment Projections

Downloads & Links

Industry Projections

Occupation Projections

Contact

Maria Casal, PhD
(608) 733-3859

Nicholas Hill
(608) 707-6733

The information on this site is updated regularly. The same search run at another time may produce different results.

Additional Features

JCW Logo
American Job Center Banner