The national unemployment rate for August rose to 9.7 percent according to a report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics released Friday, with Wisconsin's rate reported at 8.7 percent as of July.
The report said 216,000 jobs nationwide were lost in August, the smallest loss of jobs in over a year.
Glen Cain, UW-Madison professor emeritus of economics, said the unemployment rate could continue to go up overall even if the number of jobs lost goes down. He also said most economic indicators imply the economy has stopped declining.
""I think there is a general expectation that the economy will improve, but slowly. But, that doesn't necessarily mean that the unemployment rate will go down either, because people who had not been in the labor force before [will now] try to go in to the labor force,"" he said.
Cain said the unemployment rate in Wisconsin could go down during the back-to-school season because of the increase in jobs associated with academic institutions. He said jobs ranging from janitorial work to school operations could open up.
He said the unemployment rate could also drop because of the number of students who will discontinue seeking employment when they resume school full-time.
The report was released at the beginning of Labor Day weekend and in the wake of the recent approval of a new contract at Mercury Marine in Fond du Lac, which promises to keep 850 manufacturing jobs in Wisconsin.
Wisconsin's unemployment rate a year ago was 4.6 percent.
—Hannah Furfaro
