Wisconsin’s unemployment rate drops to 17-year low

Wisconsin’s estimated unemployment rate last month dropped to a 17-year low of 3.2%, down from 3.4% in March and well below the peak of 9.2% late in 2009 in the worst days of the Great Recession.

Thursday's report from state Department of Workforce Development, which is based on preliminary estimates and subject to revision, shows that Wisconsin’s labor market is approaching levels not seen since February 2000, shortly after the tech-giddy dot-com boom.

The state’s jobless rate has paralleled a consistent decline in the national unemployment rate, which fell to 4.4% in April, its lowest rate in 10 years and well below 10% at its peak late in 2009. The national rate last hit 4.4% in May 2007.

Wisconsin’s unemployment rate consistently has trended below the national rate for more than 30 years.

According to the state report, Wisconsin’s labor force participation rate increased 0.2 percentage points to 68.6% and continues to outpace the U.S. rate, which decreased to 62.9% in April.

That agency said the size of the state’s total labor force and overall employment in Wisconsin remained at an all-time high in April.

"The bottom line is Wisconsin's economy is growing and adding jobs, and our biggest challenge now is finding enough skilled talent to fill openings employers have available,” Workforce Development Secretary Ray Allen said in a statement.

Separately Thursday, the U.S. Labor Department reported that fewer people sought U.S. unemployment benefits last week, a sign Americans are benefiting from solid job security.

Applications for weekly unemployment aid fell 4,000 to 232,000, the lowest level in nearly three months. The four-week average, a less volatile figure, declined 2,750 to 240,750.

Applications are a proxy for layoffs. They have been below 300,000, a historically low figure, for 115 weeks. That’s the longest such streak since 1970.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.