« Bill Requiring In-Person Option Clears Committee | Home | Medical Society Opposes Measure to Overturn Mask Mandate »
Forward Analytics: Economic Impacts of COVID-19 in Wisconsin
By Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance staff | January 26, 2021
From The Wheeler Report . . .
Forward Analytics released a new report quantifying the impact COVID-19 has had on businesses and workers in Wisconsin. The report starts with a thorough overview of the COVID-19 timeline in Wisconsin, followed by an analysis of how federal stimulus has “softened” the blow. According to the Executive Summary, “The hit to Wisconsin’s economy in the first half of 2020, particularly during March through May, was enormous. Wisconsin’s gross domestic product (GDP) fell 11.4%. From mid-March through late-April, more than 440,000 Wisconsinites filed new unemployment claims. That number was 15.6% of those employed in February. The state’s official unemployment rate soared from 3.5% in February to 13.6% in April, the highest it has been since the Great Depression.” The report states that nearly $20 billion was added to the state’s economy through cash payments to individuals, increased and extended unemployment benefits, and forgivable loans to small businesses. The report highlights that Wisconsin’s total personal income would have “declined significantly” in the second quarter without the federal funds.
Dale Knapp, Director of Forward Analytics said, “The sharp economic decline was short-lived as employers began rehiring significant numbers of workers in May and June. However, the pace of job gains slowed during July through September and employment declined in October and November. As of November, the number of jobs in Wisconsin stood 7.6% below February employment. At that level, the state has a long road ahead before the economy returns to pre-pandemic levels.”
While there are reasons to be optimistic about the future – Congress passed a stimulus bill with additional assistance, unemployment compensation has additional funds, and a vaccine is in the process of being rolled out. However, the report cautions that recently discovered mutations of COVID are more contagious and if infection rates here are similar to those in Great Britain it could slow the recovery in 2021.
Topics: SAA Capitol Reports, SAA Capitol Reports with Email Notifications, SAA Latest Update | No Comments »
Comments are closed.