The unemployment rate in Wisconsin continues to drop, resulting in high demand for local college students and recent graduates.
The Job Center of Wisconsin website shows more than 138,000 job openings as the state unemployment rate has hit a record low of 2.9 percent.
The high demand for qualified workers has been felt increasingly at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire (UW-Eau Claire). Director of Career Services Staci Heidtke stated that placement rates for its alumni have matched pre-pandemic levels.
“They have lots of options to choose from, and they’re coming in, sometimes with opportunities that are in different cities, different states because the employers are now offering remote work options,” Heidtke said.
A survey of UW-Eau Claire’s Class of 2021 revealed that 97.6 percent are either employed or pursuing further education.
Increased Recruiting Efforts
UW-Stout Director of Career Services Bryan Barts also noted that companies are actively seeking new talent, with over 300 employers attending the school’s multi-day career fair last month.
Western Technical College has also seen a rising number of job opportunities for college students. Chris Magnuson, the school’s career services advisor, said that recent attendance at campus career fairs has dwindled as many students feel they do not need it.
“What I’ve noticed, and our whole team has noticed, it’s a little tougher to get students to a career fair. They all have jobs,” Magnuson said.
National Unemployment
CNN Business reported that the US is slowly recovering from the economic impact of the pandemic.
Economists estimate that an additional 490,000 positions were created in March. If this is accurate, the country will have recovered more than 90 percent of the jobs lost because of coronavirus, bringing the unemployment rate to 3.7 percent, the lowest since the pandemic.
“I do expect the pace of hiring to slow, but I do think it’s important to say that it’s because of supply constraints,” economist Simona Mocuta said.