June Economic Trends report for metro Milwaukee: Recovery continues, but employment still short of pre-pandemic levels

MILWAUKEE – Milwaukee’s economy continues to point upward as 20 of 22 available June business activity indicators improved over year-ago levels, according to a monthly report by the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce (MMAC.) June’s total matches the 20 positive indicators registered in May.

Since the low point of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, the metro area has recovered an estimated 66,200 non-farm jobs. This represents 59% of the initial total job loss (112,400) attributed to shutdowns and other effects of the pandemic on our economy.

“This positive year-over-year trend is partly due to the extreme depth that most indicators reached one year ago, as well as the continuing progress made toward a fuller recovery over one year later,” said Bret Mayborne, the MMAC’s economic research director. “In terms of employment, our metro area remains on a good path to recovery but has not yet returned to pre- pandemic levels. We saw strong growth in leisure and hospitality jobs in June, an area that was among the hardest hit during the pandemic.”

Highlights of the data include:

• Nonfarm employment in the metro area reached 835,300 in June, a 4.2% increase from one year ago. June’s increase ranked slower than May’s 7.2% year-over-year
• By major industry, eight of 10 major industry sectors posted year-over-year job increases in June. Leisure & hospitality posted the largest percentage job rise, up 21.4%, as this sector continues to recover from deep COVID-19 losses. The construction, mining & natural resources (down 5.4%) and financial activities (down 5%) sectors posted June declines vs. year-ago
• The metro area’s seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate averaged 5.5% in June, down

4.5 percentage points from the 10% rate posted in June 2020. Presently, the statewide rate for June ranked lower at 4.5% while the U.S. rate ranked higher (6.1%.)

MMAC Monthly Economic Trends

Manufacturing related indicators pointed upward. Manufacturing employment rose 4.5% in June (vs. one year ago) up from the 3.7% increase posted in May. In addition, June production and earnings indictors in the manufacturing sector rose. The workweek length for manufacturing production workers rose 6.5% vs. one year ago to 39.6 hours. Average weekly earnings for such workers increased 11.5% (to $969) vs. one year ago while average hourly earnings rose 4.7% (to $24.47.)

• The trend in local housing and real estate indicators remains strongly positive with both metro area existing homes sold (up 29.6%) and Milwaukee County mortgages (up 15.2%) recording double-digit year-over-year

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.