State of Working Wisconsin
For more than two decades, the State of Working Wisconsin has presented the workers’ perspective on the Wisconsin economy. The State of Working Wisconsin 2022 provides the most recent data available on wages, jobs, disparities, and unions to build a stronger understanding of what is going on in the state’s labor market.
Featured
Worker Power Levels the Playing Field
Strong community benefit agreements are the most certain and robust way for communities to obtain real and lasting returns from large-scale private developments such as the proposed Iron District in Milwaukee.
Playing with Public Money in Milwaukee
Asking for public money for sports stadiums, developers promise economic development, urban renewal, and neighborhood revitalization. Despite the big promises, public investments are often neither transparent nor accountable.
The Crisis in Milwaukee’s Service Industry
There’s a crisis in service work in Milwaukee. Too many of these jobs offer low wages, inadequate and unpredictable hours, and weak or non-existent benefits packages.
COWS in the News
The economic possibilities for Milwaukee’s downtown Iron District
Laura Dresser, COWS associate director, says requiring developing entities to create favorable conditions for workers has happened too infrequently. She says, “We have normalized in this nation throwing money at stadium deals and the owners …
December 12, 2022Report: Public development subsidy deals should guarantee better jobs, working conditions
“It’s important for Milwaukee to see itself as a national leader in this way and to reapply the lessons from the Deer District as new development is considered,” says Laura Dresser, associate director of COWS. …
November 29, 2022Rash of illnesses among Wisconsin kids keeping caregivers home from work
“There is this thing that’s changed about what we do when we’re sick, when our kids are sick, what our child cares will accept or tolerate when our kids are sick,” Dresser said. “I think …
November 28, 2022- More