Wisconsin

2,000 = Total job losses 41 months after start of recession, 3/2001–8/2004¹
54,300 = Job losses in manufacturing 41 months after start of recession 3/2001-8/2004²
-15,400 = Actual job growth vs. growth projected by Bush administration, 6/2003–8/2004³
- 75,300 = Jobs projected
- 59,900 = Actual job growth
-98,000 = Jobs shortfall - Job growth compared to working-age population growth, 3/2001–8/2004⁴
- 0.1% = Job growth
- 3.5% = Working-age population growth
4.8% = Unemployment rate in August 2004 (3.9% = Unemployment rate in January 2001)⁵
285,960 = Jobs at risk of outsourcing in Wisconsin⁶
23,028 = Jobs lost to NAFTA 1993-2002 (Jobs gained minus jobs destroyed)⁷
$46,269 = Median inflation-adjusted household income in 2003, down $686 from 2002, $854 from 2001, and $1,893 from 2000⁸

Recent outsourcing events in Wisconsin

Milwaukee: Tower Automotive, 500 workers, 2004-05
New London: Simmons Juvenile Products, 261 workers, 2004
Manitowoc: Newell Rubbermaid 882 workers, 2004
Fennimore: Rayovac, 99 workers, 2003
Madison: Rayovac, 145 workers, 2003
Middleton, Rayovac, 146 workers, 2003
Madison: Symphony Corporation, 150 workers, 2002-03
Milwaukee: Master Lock, 400 workers, 2000

Political action

In letter to Robert Zoelleck [Acrobat 95K], USTR, May 27, 2004, Governor Jim Doyle rescinded state’s compliance with the Government Procurement Agreement—guarantees foreign companies equal access to state contracting process

Foreign companies on state vendor list⁹

Tata Group

State contractors who subcontract work abroad

State amended contract, effective November 2004, with J.P. Morgan Chase to bring call center work that had been sent overseas back to the United States

Key articles

Nathan Phelps, “Feingold Cites Job Losses, Opposes Free Trade Pact,” Green Bay Press-Gazette, 9/28/04
Anna Krejci, “Town Hall Meeting Focuses on Outsourcing, Workers' Rights,” Green Bay News-Chronicle, 9/27/04
“County Supervisors Unveil Resolution to Protect Wisconsin Jobs,” [Acrobat 13K] Wisconsin Good Jobs News, 9/23/04
Joel Dresang, “AFL-CIO Spotlights Companies Exporting Jobs,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 9/17/04
“Trade Pacts Seen Pushing U.S. Jobs Away,” Associated Press, 9/15/04
“Kerry-Edwards 2004: Bush-Cheney Outsource Labor for Campaign Merchandise,” Kerry-Edwards Campaign Press Release, 8/13/04
Rick Valliere, “Opponents of Trade Pacts Say Issue Could Be Decisive in Battleground States,” BNA / Daily Labor Report, 7/28/04
Pete Bach, “Simmons to Shut New London Plant,” Post-Crescent (Appleton, WI), 4/17/04
Tom Sheehan, “Personal Data on Him on File in Argentina?; Lawmaker Irate That Foreign Nations Apparently Have Access to His Social Security Number,” Wisconsin State Journal, 7/17/04
Steve Cahalan, “White-Collar Jobs Also Going Overseas,” La Crosse Tribune, 5/30/04
“Three Governors on Offshoring,” CNN/Lou Dobbs Tonight (Excerpt), 4/27/04
John Rondy, “Free Trade vs. Fair Trade,” Wisconsin Technology Network, 3/31/04
“The Pressure to Export Jobs,” CNN/Lou Dobbs Tonight (Excerpt), 3/15/04
Richard Ryman, “Work Force Gets Harsh Lesson in Global Economics,” Green Bay Press-Gazette, 2/15/04
“Fighting Outsourcing Of Government Jobs,” National Public Radio, Morning Edition, 1/27/04
Judy Newman, “Sending Tech Work to India; That's the Trend in Outsourcing, and Madison Companies are Doing It,” Wisconsin State Journal, 5/18/03
“Info Calls Shifted Overseas; Contractor Looks for Savings,” Capital Times, 3/25/02

¹Economic Policy Institute (EPI), “JobWatch – State Data,” 9/17/04.
²Bureau of Labor Statistics.
³EPI, “JobWatch – State Data.”
⁴EPI, “JobWatch – State Data.”
⁵Bureau of Labor Statistics.
⁶This figure reflects jobs that could move offshore because of occupational attributes, not those that will actually move (which will most likely be far fewer). It is derived from 2003 BLS data analyzed by Dr. Cynthia Kroll, Senior Regional Economist, Fisher Center of Real Estate, University of California-Berkeley.
⁷Robert Scott, “The High Price of ‘Free’ Trade; NAFTA’s Failure has Cost the United States Across the Nation,” Economic Policy Institute, 11/17/03.
⁸U.S. Census Bureau, “Historical Income Tables — Median Household Income by State 1984 to 2004”
⁹Philip Mattera, “Your Tax Dollars at Work … Offshore: How Foreign Outsourcing Firms are Capturing State Government Contracts,” [Acrobat 38K] WashTech/Good Jobs First, July 2004

Learn about outsourcing in other states