Workforce Development Area Directory

WDA 11 - Southwest

Grant, Green, Iowa, Lafayette, Richland, and Rock Counties

Board Web Directory:

Southwest Wisconsin Workforce Development Board

Labor Market Economist:

Franklin Otis

email or call (608) 405-4066

Franklin Otis is a Research Analyst in the Office of Economic Advisors. He holds a bachelor's degree in economics and history from the University of Oklahoma-Norman as well as a master's degree in development practice from the University of California-Berkeley.

Description

The Southwest region is composed of six counties; Grant, Green, Iowa, Lafayette, Richland, and Rock.

The Southwest region has 4,435 square miles in land area and a population density of 70 people per square mile. The population of the region was 308,727 in 2018, an increase of less than one percent (0.59%) since the 2010 Census, a growth rate less than the State rate of 2.27 percent. All the counties of the Southwest region experienced positive natural increase with the exception of Richland County. Lafayette was the only county with a natural increase percentage (3.42%) higher than that of the State (2.3%). All the counties experienced negative net migration except for Grant County. The population of the Southwest region represents slightly more than 5 percent (5.4%) of the total state population.

In much of the Southwest region, trade, transportation, & utilities is the dominant industry as 25 percent of payroll employment in Southwest Wisconsin is in this industry sector. The second largest industry sector in the region is education and health services accounting for 23 percent of payroll employment; in third place is the manufacturing sector with 17 percent of payroll employment.

In 2018 the region's annual average labor force was 168,723 with almost 164,000 of those persons employed. The region's annual average unemployment rate was 2.9 percent in 2018. The 2018 payroll employment was 121,154, an increase of 10.8 percent since 2010. The weighted average annual pay in 2018 for the Southwest region was $43,006, which was 88 percent of the state average. The area's metropolitan county, Rock, had average annual pay of $46,115 in 2018, 94 percent of the state average. Rock County is the dominant county in the region accounting for 52 percent of the region's population, 51 percent of the region's labor force, and 55 percent of payroll employment.

The region has a total of 151 K-12 public schools and seven post-secondary schools, including three Wisconsin Technical College Campuses.

Occupational & Industry Employment Downloads

State Information

Occupational & Industry Employment Downloads