ANNUAL SURVEY OF JOB OPENINGS

Milwaukee was the first major city in the nation to regularly study job openings to assess jobs available and skill needs. The Milwaukee job openings surveys are the most extensive and continuous surveys of employer workforce development needs in the nation. The U.S. Congress adopted the Milwaukee surveys as a national model, and the Milwaukee approach is now used by a number of states, major metro areas, and urban and rural counties.

Each year the Milwaukee Area Workforce Investment Board and other partners support the work of John Pawasarat, Director of the Employment and Training Institute in the School of Continuing Education at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in this important research.

Here are some of the findings from the 2005 (Week of May 24, 2006) survey of the Milwaukee job openings:

Job Openings

• The highest increase in full-time openings was seen in the manufacturing sector, which showed 1,520 more full-time openings in May 2006 than in May 2005. The number of full-time openings in manufacturing (4,495 vacancies) is at an all-time high for the last decade.
• Part-time openings were up by 645 since May 2005, mainly due to an increase of 298 jobs in retail and wholesale trade and 205 jobs in the service sector. Part-time openings are still significantly below the levels shown in the late 1990s, when over 14,000 part-time jobs were available.
• The health industry remains a dominant force in the job market, with nearly one out of every five job openings for persons providing health care or working for health care providers.

Experience and Education Requirements

• About a third (31%) of full-time openings required four years of college or more, while half (49 percent) of full-time jobs required post-secondary education, an associate degree, certification, licensing, or occupation-specific experience.
• Jobs for high school graduates, with no specific experience requirements, made up 4 percent of the full-time openings, while jobs with no education or training requirements made up the remaining 16 percent of jobs.

Job Gap

• Milwaukee County total jobs available (10,361 full-time and 4,174 part-time openings) were well below the number of officially counted unemployed job seekers (26,692 workers).

Wage Rates

• The average wage offered for full-time entry-level jobs with
  no experience or training requirements has risen from $8.08 in October 2003 to $8.76 an hour in May 2005 and up to $9.50 an hour in May 2006.
• Average wages for entry-level jobs for part-time work showed an increase from $6.85 an hour in October 2003 to $7.30 in May 2005 and to $7.52 an hour in May 2006.

Full Report (PDF) - Survey of Job Openings in the Milwaukee Metropolitan Area, 2006

This year the Milwaukee job vacancy survey was expanded to provide a first time regional analysis of job openings. The survey was expanded at the request of the Milwaukee Area Workforce Investment Board to include the three south east counties of Racine, Kenosha and Walworth, and analyses were prepared for 7-county region and for the Milwaukee metropolitan area, including a first time review of job needs and demand in Kenosha, Racine and Walworth counties.

Full Report (PDF) - Analysis of Job Openings in the Milwaukee Region: Job Supply and Demand

To find out more about the Employment and Training Institute at the University of Wisconsin, visit the web site.