Monthly Employment Watch: Milwaukee and the Nation's Largest Cities

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Monthly Employment Watch: Milwaukee and the Nation's Largest Cities A monthly report on employment trends in the nation s largest cities Prepared by: The University of

1 Monthly Employment Watch: Milwaukee and the Nation's Largest Cities A monthly report on employment trends in the nation s largest cities Prepared by: The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Center for Economic Development September 2010 For further information contact: Lisa Heuler Williams Telephone: heuler@uwm.edu

2 About This Report Each month, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Center for Economic Development, drawing on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Local Area Unemployment Statistics, monitors employment trends in Milwaukee and the nation s 50 largest cities. In addition, the Center also compares employment trends in Milwaukee to a smaller and more directly comparable group of peer cities, the 20 largest cities of the Northeast-Midwest Frostbelt region. Each month, the data compiled by the Center normally displays year-over-year total employment for three different time periods: a) the most recent year ( ), b) June 2008 June 2010, thereby encompassing a large portion of the current recession and c) since 2000, the peak of the last business cycle. By looking at three different time periods, and two different samples of cities, we hope to provide a fuller sense of how Milwaukee s employment growth stacks up against other big cities over time, and how Milwaukee s position has changed over time. Change in Format of Monthly Employment Watch In the past, has reported each month the latest preliminary data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Local Area Unemployment Statistics. However, the preliminary data are corrected and revised by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in subsequent months, and these changes often significantly affect the rankings of cities in our tables. Consequently, we will now use the revised data from the Local Area Unemployment Statistics in The Monthly Employment Watch. In practice, this will result in an additional one-month lag in the reported employment data; for example in this September 2010 report, instead of using the newly available July 2010 preliminary employment data, we will use the revised and corrected June 2010 BLS numbers (the most recent revised data). Although we may sacrifice a month of timeliness in the data, we believe that using the revised numbers will make The Monthly Employment Watch a more reliable, and less potentially misleading, presentation of the relative employment performance of cities.

3 The Monthly Employment Watch: June The National Bureau of Economic Research, which is responsible for the dating of business cycles, has announced that the decline in business activity in the United States that began in December 2007 reached a trough in June Thus, the recent recession, which lasted 18 months, was the longest recession since World War II. A new downturn in economic activity would represent a new recession, not a continuation of the most recent recession. On the heels of the announcement of that the recession ended more than a year ago, recent employment data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) for June 2010 reveal continuing distress in the city of Milwaukee labor market. June 2010 marked the 26th consecutive month of over-the-year employment decline in the city; employment has fallen in 28 of the last 29 months and the unemployment rate ticked upward again in June. Although the rate of over-the-year employment losses has slowed (see Figure 1), the reality is that two and half years after the recession began, and one year after the recession ended, the city of Milwaukee continues to hemorrhage employment. Milwaukee continues to be among the nation s big cities hardest hit by the Great Recession and its after-effects. In the past year, Milwaukee ranks 45th of the nation s 50 largest cities in employment performance, posting a decline of 2.06 percent. Between June , Milwaukee s performance ranks 44th, with an employment loss of over 16,000 (nearly seven percent). Among the nation s 20 largest Frostbelt cities the historically industrial metropolises of the Northeast-Midwest Milwaukee ranks towards the bottom as well in employment performance during the Great Recession: 19th of the 20 during both the time period and 17 th of the 20 during the time period.

4 Figure 1 Milwaukee: Monthly Over-the-Year Employment Change

5 Table 1: Monthly Year-over-Year Employment Change in the City of Milwaukee* Month Employment Change % Change January ( ) February -1, March April May June July August September October November -3, December -4, January ( ) -7, February -7, March -10, April -11, May -10, June -11, July -13, August -14, September -14, October -14, November -13, December -14, January ( ) -10, February -8, March -7, April -5, May -4, June -5, * These figures vary from earlier Monthly Employment Watch tables, which reported preliminary BLS monthly employment estimates. The data in Table 1 reflect revisions and re-estimates by BLS and are considered more accurate.

6 Figure 2 Milwaukee Unemployment Rate (2008 present)

7 Table 2 -- Employment Growth in the Nation s 50 Largest Cities: Rank City June 2009 June 2010 % Change 1 Charlotte 309, , % 2 Austin 393, , % 3 Minneapolis 201, , % 4 Dallas 542, , % 5 Washington, D.C. 300, , % 6 Nashville 293, , % 7 Honolulu 418, , % 8 Miami 166, , % 9 Fort Worth 303, , % 10 El Paso 239, , % 11 Fresno 198, , % 12 Detroit 281, , % 13 Phoenix 775, , % 14 Mesa City 235, , % 15 Boston 289, , % 16 San Diego 626, , % 17 San Jose 403, , % 18 Portland 274, , % 19 San Antonio 596, , % 20 Seattle 347, , % 21 Houston 995, , % 22 New York 3,608,759 3,613, % 23 Tucson 257, , % 24 Louisville 332, , % 25 Oklahoma City 244, , % 26 Chicago 1,185,231 1,178, % 27 Cleveland 164, , % 28 Jacksonville 378, , % 29 Omaha 224, , % 30 Memphis 277, , % 31 Albuquerque 245, , % 32 St. Louis 141, , % 33 Virginia Beach 215, , % 34 San Francisco 415, , % 35 Sacramento 189, , % 36 Oakland 171, , % 37 Columbus 393, , % 38 Wichita 179, , % 39 Long Beach 207, , % 40 Los Angeles 1,672,730 1,642, % 41 Baltimore 252, , % 42 Philadelphia 568, , % 43 Kansas City 207, , % 44 Tulsa 179, , % 45 Milwaukee 248, , % 46 Atlanta 212, , % 47 Colorado Springs 199, , % 48 Denver 297, , % 49 Las Vegas 250, , % 50 Indianapolis 387, , %

8 Table 3 - Employment Growth in the Nation s 50 Largest Cities: Rank City June 2008 June 2010 % Change 1 Austin 392, , % 2 El Paso 237, , % 3 San Antonio 595, , % 4 Dallas 554, , % 5 Fort Worth 307, , % 6 Houston 1,000, , % 7 Minneapolis 207, , % 8 Tucson 259, , % 9 Seattle 354, , % 10 Miami 172, , % 11 Oklahoma City 248, , % 12 Honolulu 433, , % 13 New York 3,709,454 3,613, % 14 Boston 299, , % 15 Mesa City 244, , % 16 Phoenix 803, , % 17 Louisville 341, , % 18 Washington, D.C. 314, , % 19 Columbus 401, , % 20 Virginia Beach 221, , % 21 Omaha 230, , % 22 San Diego 654, , % 23 Fresno 208, , % 24 Nashville 309, , % 25 Portland 287, , % 26 Albuquerque 255, , % 27 Cleveland 172, , % 28 Memphis 289, , % 29 San Jose 426, , % 30 Philadelphia 587, , % 31 Wichita 186, , % 32 St. Louis 148, , % 33 Chicago 1,247,803 1,178, % 34 Tulsa 185, , % 35 Sacramento 197, , % 36 Jacksonville 398, , % 37 San Francisco 435, , % 38 Colorado Springs 206, , % 39 Baltimore 264, , % 40 Charlotte 338, , % 41 Oakland 179, , % 42 Long Beach 217, , % 43 Los Angeles 1,754,758 1,642, % 44 Milwaukee 260, , % 45 Denver 310, , % 46 Detroit 308, , % 47 Atlanta 225, , % 48 Las Vegas 263, , % 49 Kansas City 221, , % 50 Indianapolis 408, , %

9 Table 4 - Employment Growth in the Nation s 50 Largest Cities: Rank City June 2000 June 2010 % Change 1 Fort Worth 256, , % 2 Phoenix 660, , % 3 Mesa City 200, , % 4 San Antonio 520, , % 5 Miami 147, , % 6 Tucson 227, , % 7 El Paso 218, , % 8 Houston 912, , % 9 Seattle 322, , % 10 Atlanta 193, , % 11 San Diego 587, , % 12 Albuquerque 228, , % 13 Fresno 188, , % 14 Charlotte 298, , % 15 Virginia Beach 201, , % 16 Omaha 210, , % 17 New York 3,452,863 3,613, % 18 Las Vegas 232, , % 19 Austin 387, , % 20 Washington, D.C. 292, , % 21 Colorado Springs 187, , % 22 Sacramento 180, , % 23 Wichita 173, , % 24 Honolulu 416, , % 25 Jacksonville 369, , % 26 Columbus 386, , % 27 Oklahoma City 245, , % 28 Boston 296, , % 29 Nashville 302, , % 30 Denver 297, , % 31 Long Beach 211, , % 32 Los Angeles 1,705,100 1,642, % 33 Portland 291, , % 34 Memphis 292, , % 35 Minneapolis 219, , % 36 Louisville 354, , % 37 Dallas 592, , % 38 Baltimore 266, , % 39 Philadelphia 602, , % 40 Oakland 186, , % 41 San Francisco 453, , % 42 St. Louis 155, , % 43 Milwaukee 271, , % 44 Chicago 1,322,727 1,178, % 45 Indianapolis 416, , % 46 Kansas City 228, , % 47 Tulsa 201, , % 48 San Jose 471, , % 49 Cleveland 190, , % 50 Detroit 355, , %

10 Table 5 - Employment Growth in the 20 Largest Frostbelt Cities Rank City June 2009 June 2010 % Change 1 Minneapolis 201, , % 2 St. Paul (MN) 133, , % 3 Washington, D.C. 300, , % 4 Detroit 281, , % 5 Boston 289, , % 6 Buffalo 112, , % 7 New York 3,608,759 3,613, % 8 Chicago 1,185,231 1,178, % 9 Cleveland 164, , % 10 Omaha 224, , % 11 Pittsburgh 143, , % 12 St. Louis 141, , % 13 Cincinnati 150, , % 14 Columbus 393, , % 15 Wichita 179, , % 16 Baltimore 252, , % 17 Philadelphia 568, , % 18 Kansas City 207, , % 19 Milwaukee 248, , % 20 Indianapolis 387, , %

11 Table 6- Employment Growth in the 20 Largest Frostbelt Cities Rank City June 2008 June 2010 % Change 1 St. Paul (MN) 137, , % 2 Minneapolis 207, , % 3 New York 3,709,454 3,613, % 4 Boston 299, , % 5 Buffalo 115, , % 6 Pittsburgh 147, , % 7 Washington, D.C. 314, , % 8 Columbus 401, , % 9 Omaha 230, , % 10 Cincinnati 155, , % 11 Cleveland 172, , % 12 Philadelphia 587, , % 13 Wichita 186, , % 14 St. Louis 148, , % 15 Chicago 1,247,803 1,178, % 16 Baltimore 264, , % 17 Milwaukee 260, , % 18 Detroit 308, , % 19 Kansas City 221, , % 20 Indianapolis 408, , %

12 Table 7- Employment Growth in the 20 Largest Frostbelt Cities Rank City June 2000 June 2010 % Change 1 Omaha 210, , % 2 New York 3,452,863 3,613, % 3 Washington, D.C. 292, , % 4 Wichita 173, , % 5 Columbus 386, , % 6 Boston 296, , % 7 Cincinnati 152, , % 8 Pittsburgh 150, , % 9 Minneapolis 219, , % 10 Buffalo 119, , % 11 Baltimore 266, , % 12 Philadelphia 602, , % 13 St. Paul (MN) 149, , % 14 St. Louis 155, , % 15 Milwaukee 271, , % 16 Chicago 1,322,727 1,178, % 17 Indianapolis 416, , % 18 Kansas City 228, , % 19 Cleveland 190, , % 20 Detroit 355, , %

13 Table 8 -- Unemployment Rates in the Nation s 50 Largest Cities Rank City June 2000 June 2008 June 2009 June Omaha Honolulu Virginia Beach Oklahoma City Minneapolis Austin San Antonio Seattle Tulsa Mesa City Albuquerque Houston Colorado Springs Wichita Denver Fort Worth Boston Nashville Dallas Columbus El Paso New York Charlotte San Francisco Portland Tucson Indianapolis Kansas City Phoenix Louisville San Diego Washington, D.C Baltimore Atlanta Chicago Milwaukee Memphis Jacksonville Cleveland Philadelphia St. Louis San Jose Long Beach Los Angeles Miami Sacramento Fresno Las Vegas Oakland Detroit

Monthly Employment Watch: Milwaukee and the Nation's Largest Cities

Monthly Employment Watch: Milwaukee and the Nation's Largest Cities A monthly report on employment trends in the nation s largest cities Prepared by: The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Center for Economic