Wage Rates In October 2001, less than 1 percent of openings paid minimum wage ($5.15 an hour) or below. The average wage for entry-level jobs with no experience or training requirements was $8.08 for full-time openings and $7.37 for part-time work in October 2001. In October 2001, 87 percent of full-time openings could support two persons above the poverty level, and 79 percent offered wages sufficient to support three persons above poverty and offered health insurance. However, only 59 percent of full-time job openings with no education or experience requirements offered health insurance and family-supporting wages for three-person families. The majority (84 percent) of full-time job openings offered health insurance benefits. By contrast, only 29 percent of part-time openings had health insurance coverage. Labor Market Supply and Demand In Milwaukee County the total number of jobs available (7,646 full-time and 6,178 part- time openings) fell short of the number of officially counted unemployed job seekers (26,371 workers). Waukesha, Ozaukee and Washington counties with lower unemployment levels (3.0 to 3.2 percent) showed 10,735 unemployed adults compared to 4,346 full-time and 3,039 part- time job openings. In the central city neighborhoods, job openings (1,666 full-time and 1,049 part-time) fell far short of the estimated 13,132 unemployed persons considered actively seeking work in October 2001 and 4,737 cases receiving "W-2" welfare payments. Education and Training Requirements The high demand for trained workers continues. Seventy-seven percent of full-time openings required education, training or occupation-specific experience beyond high school. The survey showed an estimated 8,004 full-time jobs for experienced or technically trained workers, with 50 percent of these jobs identified as difficult to fill. Employers reported that 43 percent of the 1,901 jobs for persons with four-year college degrees (or more) were difficult to fill.

One-fourth of all job vacancies were concentrated in the health care area where an estimated 2,974 full-time and 2,609 part-time jobs were open, including 1,689 openings for nurses, 660 for nursing and patient care assistants, 359 for licensed practical nurses, 207 for pharmacists, 217 health aides, 180 radiologic technicians, and 573 other health technicians (including pharmacy technicians, phlebotomists, medical technologists, and surgical technicians). Fifteen percent of full-time openings and 39 percent of part-time openings were entry level jobs with no education or experience requirements. Another 7 percent of full-time openings and 8 percent of part-time openings required high school completion but no experience or training. However, most full-time entry-level jobs were concentrated in the WOW counties (49 percent) and the Milwaukee County suburbs (21 percent of jobs). Entry-level jobs in the City of Milwaukee were concentrated in eating and drinking establishments (31 percent of openings) and grocery stores (16 percent of openings). An estimated 715 full-time and 487 part-time jobs required possession of a valid driver's or chauffeur's license. These included openings for 290 truck drivers (delivery, concrete, long- haul), 367 driver-sales workers, and 140 construction site workers, as well as openings for van drivers, parking lot attendants, and other transportation workers. The tables below identify jobs in highest demand by level of education or training required. Frequently listed full- time job openings were reported in health fields, sales work, financial services, food preparation and service, and office work. Part-time jobs in high demand were reported in health fields, sales work, and food preparation and service.

This report was prepared by John Pawasarat, Director of the UWM Employment and Training Institute, with assistance from Lois M. Quinn, Senior Research Scientist, and student research assistants Erin Eklund, Cordella Jones, Vincent Pederson, Christina Navarro, Sarah Stoecker, Katie McCoy and Elizabeth Chudnow. Milwaukee is the first major city in the country to regularly study job openings in order to assess the number and type of jobs available, pay rates, job locations and the level of skill training employers need to fill full-time and part-time openings. In 1998 the U.S. Congress adopted the Milwaukee Labor Market Project's job openings survey design as a national model. Summaries of job openings reports for prior years (1993-2000) are available on the Employment and Training Institute website. The 80-page manual on how to conduct job vacancies studies is available on the Internet at www.uwm.edu/Dept/ETI/manual.ht m.

Page updated March 2008
Employment and Training Institute
School of Continuing Education University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

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