Marketplace Today Blog

By Stacy Forster
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Although the national economic recession continues, the bottom is in sight and the state should see employment and personal income recover in 2010, a report from the state Department of Revenue said Friday.

The quarterly Wisconsin Economic Outlook said Wisconsin unemployment is expected to peak at 9.7 percent in the first quarter of 2010 before starting to recover. John Koskinen, chief economist and division administrator for research and policy at the state Department of Revenue, said the bottom of the recession is expected to occur this quarter.

Wisconsin had an adjusted unemployment rate of 8.9 percent in May, the highest since September 1983. The recession had claimed 143,000 jobs in Wisconsin through May.

Job losses have been especially severe in the state's manufacturing sector; 13 percent of Wisconsin's manufacturing jobs, or 65,400, have been lost since the beginning of the recession, the report said.

"While a slow recovery is expected to begin next year, we must remain focused on creating and retaining jobs and moving the state toward a path of economic growth," state Revenue Secretary Roger Ervin said in a statement.

Other economic indicators will follow a similar pattern. The report said state exports are expected to decline this year before seeing slight growth in 2010.

And while personal income grew 3.4 percent in 2008, it is expected to experience a rare decline — of 1 percent — in 2009 before growing again next year, the report said.