Department of Numbers

Madison, Wisconsin Unemployment

The BLS reported that the unemployment rate for Madison fell 1.3 percentage points in January 2021 to 3.1%. For the same month, the metro unemployment rate was 0.7 percentage points lower than the Wisconsin rate. The unemployment rate in Madison peaked in April 2020 at 11.6% and is now 8.5 percentage points lower. You can also compare Madison unemployment with unemployment in other cities.

Unemployment Rate January 2021 Month/Month Year/Year
National 6.3% -0.4 +2.8
Wisconsin 3.8% -0.2 +0.5
Madison 3.1% -1.3 +0.5
Note: Metro level data is now seasonally adjusted.1 All comparisons are made with January 2021 data as February metro level unemployment data has not yet been released.

Unemployment Rate: Madison, Wisconsin, National

Madison, Wisconsin monthly unemployment rate chart

Note: Recessions shown in gray.

Madison, Wisconsin Unemployed

The number of people unemployed in Madison peaked in April 2020 at 42,401. There are now 30,256 fewer people unemployed in the metropolitan area.

Unemployed Persons January 2021 Month/Month Year/Year
Madison 12,145 -5,193 +1,936

Number of Unemployed Persons

Madison, Wisconsin Unemployment History

Date National
Unemployment Rate		 Wisconsin
Unemployment Rate		 Madison
Unemployment Rate		 Madison
Unemployed
March
2021		 6.0% — — —
February
2021		 6.2% 3.8% — —
January
2021		 6.3% 3.8% 3.1% 12,145
December
2020		 6.7% 4.0% 4.4% 17,338
November
2020		 6.7% 4.4% 4.1% 16,181
October
2020		 6.9% 4.8% 4.7% 18,646
September
2020		 7.8% 5.2% 4.2% 16,582
August
2020		 8.4% 6.1% 5.4% 20,052
July
2020		 10.2% 7.2% 6.1% 22,367
June
2020		 11.1% 8.6% 7.3% 27,229
May
2020		 13.3% 10.4% 10.0% 37,522
April
2020		 14.8% 14.8% 11.6% 42,401

1. Metro area unemployment rates are now seasonally adjusted. The BLS has started publishing smoothed seasonally adjusted metropolitan area data which makes comparisons to state and national data more relevant than the unadjusted numbers. ↩

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