News

Like many other densely populated urban areas, Milwaukee is experiencing a surge of reported COVID-19 cases. On March 12 there was only one confirmed case in Milwaukee County. By April 8 there were 1,425 confirmed cases and 67 deaths. Examining deaths and confirmed cases through April 8, this study finds that stark inequalities are emerging along racial and economic lines. Areas of the county that are predominantly African American are experiencing disproportionately high numbers of reported cases and concentrations of coronavirus clusters, while areas that are predominantly white and higher income are reporting fewer cases and very small numbers of virus clusters. Most important, African Americans who have contracted the virus are developing life-threatening complications at a rate much higher than whites.

“The controversial Foxconn project was supposed to generate 13,000 manufacturing jobs, but three years later, residents are not sure if the jobs will come.” – Corky Siemaszko

The Water Needs Assessment examines current and future conditions of the water workforce in the Metro Milwaukee Area, focusing on employment opportunities provided by water-related agencies and industries for individuals from economically disadvantaged communities.

Some institutions are working to improve weak returns from licensing and patents.

A project to foster diversity among Milwaukee’s creative professionals starts with a hard look at the whiteness of those fields.

Milwaukee has been, for decades, one of the most segregated metropolitan areas in the United States, a place where racial inequality is entrenched and pervasive. These disparities are particularly pronounced in the region’s labor market, where racial gaps in employment, earnings, and mobility are among the widest in the nation. This study presents the first systematic overview of racial disparities in a part of Milwaukee’s labor market that has attracted increased attention in recent years: occupations in the “creative sector.”

In this study entitled, “Milwaukee 53206: The Anatomy of Concentrated Disadvantage In an Inner City Neighborhood 2000-2017,” Marc V. Levine presents a comprehensive analysis of what we call the “enduring ecosystem of disadvantage” in Milwaukee 53206, taking stock of current social and economic conditions as well as trends in the neighborhood over the past two decades and beyond.

This study examines the effectiveness of Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS) bus routes 6 and 61 in providing access to suburban job locations for residents of inner-city Milwaukee neighborhoods. The two routes provide the only bus service between inner-city areas of Milwaukee and job centers in the Waukesha and Washington county suburbs, yet there are no plans to continue operating these routes beyond 2018.

PBS’s Economics Correspondent Paul Solman reports on the labor shortage in Wisconsin and what employers are doing to fill needed positions. The article begins: “In Wisconsin, ‘Help Wanted’ is on virtually every restaurant window, store front and city bus. With… Read More

The concept of there being “two Americas” is almost as old as the nation itself. That divide has been economic but also racial, with minorities claiming a disproportionately small share of the nation’s substantial wealth. Amid the current backdrop of the Black Lives Matter movement and increasing wealth disparity, Clive Myrie from the BBC’s This Week’s World delves into what white Americans understand–or don’t–about race.