Wisconsin unemployment 8.3%

Newly released numbers show more people in Wisconsin are out of work now than at this time last year. According to the Department of Workforce Development, the state's unemployment rate was 8.3% last month. That's up from 7.9% in November. It is also up from 5.8% in December 2008.

More than 1/3 of the jobs lost last year were in the manufacturing industry.

"If you could break that down, I suspect you would see most of the losses are at the bottom end, the lower-skilled manufacturing level," said Jim Golembeski, the director of the Bar Area Workforce Development Board.

Golembeski works directly with manufacturers in the area. He said things are picking up, but many of the businesses are not quite ready to start hiring again.

"Workers are the largest expense that an employer has, so an employer is always going to wait to bring people back on," said Golembeski.

Golembeski says the lost manufacturing jobs aren't gone forever, but when companies start hiring again, he says they will be looking for more productivity.

Some of the biggest manufacturing layoffs of 2009 in our area include: 347 workers at J L French Auto Castings in February, nearly 500 workers at Kohler Company in April, and 405 workers at Bay Shipbuilding in August.

"We're not out of the woods yet, but I've heard more optimism from my clients than I have in a long time," said Steve Milske, the general manager of Argus Technical Services in Appleton.

Argus is paid by manfacturers to find qualified workers -- but many of the positions right now are temporary or contract.

"There's still a need out there, and things have kind of backed up to the point where we're seeing a lot of our clients saying it's going to bust open and we're going to need a lot of people real quick," said Milske.

There are thousands of displaced workers in state who hope that's true.