“There’s a lot of talk about a recession. It’s clear that an economic slowdown has affected businesses in Milwaukee and in Wisconsin.” – Clare Zempel, Milwaukee economist

According to a 2007 University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee study, the city of Milwaukee ranked second in unemployment rates among the largest 50 American cities last year, behind only Detroit.

More recently, numerous Milwaukee-based companies were forced to lay off many employees. Harley-Davidson Inc. announced earlier this month that they will cut over 700 jobs nationwide, which includes the Milwaukee headquarters and a number of Wisconsin motorcycle factories.

Most likely resulting from popular fears of economic recession, Milwaukee job losses in early 2008 were the highest in five years, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The city’s spike in unemployment and layoffs is fairly consistent with the rest of the United States. The Federal Labor Department reported about 232 thousand job losses across the country during January, February and March 2008 alone.

“There’s a lot of talk about a recession. It’s clear that an economic slowdown has affected businesses in Milwaukee and in Wisconsin,” said Clare Zempel, Milwaukee economist and founder of Zempel Strategic, a financial market analysis company in Fox Point, Wis.

UWM Associate Professor of Economics Keith Bender explained the possible effects that a struggling economy could have on a university like UWM. Perhaps surprising to many, he said that college enrollment actually increases during periods of economic slowdown.

“The one thing that comes to mind most quickly is that people actually go back to school, because they may not have the kind of skills they need,” said Bender. “They look better when they go back on the market.”

Most of those new enrollments are working adults seeking a more prestigious master’s degree, according to Bender. As far as students are concerned, the economic instructor outlined a slightly gloomier consequence of area job loss.

“On the downside, many students, both undergraduates and graduates, have jobs. They need to work and they need the income,” he said.

Regarding a possible remedy for the financial woes of many Americans, Zempel said that conditions will improve sooner rather than later. Zempel also agreed that the United States is experiencing only a slowdown and not a recession, a notion recently emphasized by Pres. Bush.

“The stimulus checks will help. If oil prices stop rising, and they don’t necessarily have to fall, that’ll help, too. It’s my belief that we will not see a recession,” he said.

Bender didn’t necessarily disagree with Zempel’s economic forecast, but he didn’t agree, either. Instead, he said that Milwaukee’s regional financial market is relatively stable in comparison to other major U.S. cities.

“Milwaukee doesn’t have the wide [economic] swings that other areas of the country do,” said Bender. “I don’t expect us to bottom out like some places do, but I don’t really see any strong growth here, either."

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