News of the Day

An economic analysis shows Wisconsin’s agriculture industry is pulling in more revenue in recent years but employing fewer people.

The report, titled “The Contributions of Agriculture to the Wisconsin Economy,” is published every five years. The newest survey found the industry earned $116.3 billion in revenue in 2022, the latest data available. That is a 10.9 percent increase from 2017.

However, the numbers are nuanced, Steve Deller and Jeff Hadachek, co-authors of the report out of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said.

While revenues are up, the number of agriculture jobs are down and the number of farms are down. Meanwhile, the amount of production is staying the same. This is likely a result of consolidation and farm technology, Deller said.

Other highlights from the report:

• Number of farms are down from 64,793 in 2017 to 58,521 in 2022;
• Number of food processors up from 1,160 in 2017 to 1,245 in 2021;
• Employment declined from 437,700 jobs in 2017 to 353,900 jobs in 2022, a drop of 19.1 percent.

The report also outlines the diversity of Wisconsin’s economy and the strength of the dairy industry.

A federal judge in Texas has vacated the U.S. Department of Labor’s final rule increasing the salary thresholds for the “white collar” overtime exemptions under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and did so on a nationwide basis. In a sweeping 62-page decision, U.S. District Judge Sean D. Jordan of the Eastern District of Texas declared that the DOL exceeded its rulemaking authority by attempting to raise the minimum salary for the executive, administrative, or professional (EAP) and highly compensated employee (HCE) exemptions under the FLSA.

The DOL rule took effect on July 1, 2024 and initially increased the minimum salary thresholds for the EAP exemptions from $684 per week ($35,568 annually) to $844 per week ($43,888 annually) and also increased the minimum salary threshold for the HCE exemption from $107,432 to $132,964 annually. Critically, these increases were only the beginning—the DOL rule would have raised salaries again on January 1, 2025 and provided for further increases beginning July 1, 2027 and every three years thereafter. The DOL posited that its new rule would have made approximately four million employees newly eligible for the FLSA’s overtime protections.

What happens now? Judge Jordan’s decision makes clear that the January 1, 2025 increases will not take effect as planned, and the decision retroactively nullifies those increases that took effect July 1, 2024. In effect, this restores the EAP and HCE minimum salary thresholds to their previous levels—$684 per week ($35,568 annually) for the EAP exemptions and $107,432 annually for the HCE exemption.

While there may be appellate activity, any such appeal could be short-lived given the arrival of the Trump administration in January 2025. The new administration might support different salary thresholds – for instance, in 2019, the previous Trump administration issued a rule which shifted the weekly minimum salary threshold for the EAP exemptions from $455 per week to the current $684 per week – and it’s unclear whether his second administration would support the now-voided Biden-era thresholds issued in 2024.

Retail sales rose 0.4% from September to October, the Commerce Department said Friday, a solid increase though less than the previous month’s robust 0.8% gain.

A 1.6% jump in sales at auto dealers drove much of the gain. Purchases climbed 2.3% at electronics and appliances stores and 0.7% at restaurants and bars. Though some of October’s rise in retail sales reflected higher prices, it mainly indicated increased purchases.

Sales in some categories fell — furniture stores, clothing outlets and drug stores, among them — though economists said that weakness likely resulted, at least in part, from last month’s hurricanes. Sales at home and garden stores rose, potentially reflecting rebuilding activity after the storms.

One cautionary note is that grocery-store sales barely rose last month, a sign that many Americans may still be struggling to adapt to food prices that are still much higher than they were three years ago.

The National Retail Federation has predicted that shoppers will increase their spending in November and December by between 2.5% and 3.5% over the same period a year ago. During the 2023 holiday shopping season, spending had surged by a stronger 3.9% from 2022.

Enbridge’s plan to reroute an aging pipeline around a northern Wisconsin tribal reservation moved closer to reality Thursday after the company won its first permits from state regulators.

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources officials announced they have issued construction permits for the Line 5 reroute around the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa’s reservation. The energy company still needs discharge permits from the DNR as well as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The DNR issued the construction permits with more than 200 conditions attached. The company must complete the project by November 14, 2027, hire DNR-approved environmental monitors and allow DNR employees to access the site during reasonable hours. he company also must notify the agency within 24 hours of any permit violations or hazardous material spills affecting wetlands or waterways; can’t discharge any drilling mud into wetlands, waterways or sensitive areas; keep spill response equipment at workspace entry and exit points; and monitor for the introduction and spread in invasive plant species.

Line 5 transports up to 23 million gallons of oil and natural gas daily from Superior, Wisconsin, through Michigan to Sarnia, Ontario. About 12 miles of the pipeline run across the Bad River reservation.

The tribe sued Enbridge in 2019 to force the company to remove the pipeline from the reservation, arguing the 71-year-old line is prone to a catastrophic spill and land easements allowing Enbridge to operate on the reservation expired in 2013.

Enbridge has proposed a 41-mile reroute around the reservation’s southern border.

The Department of Workforce Development (DWD) and the Wisconsin Unemployment Insurance Advisory Council (UIAC) will begin accepting public comments on Thursday, Nov. 14 regarding Wisconsin’s Unemployment Insurance (UI) law.

In collaboration with the UIAC, DWD holds a statewide hearing each biennium for the public to suggest potential changes to the UI program. The UIAC ensures employee and employer interests are represented in Wisconsin’s UI law. Before each legislative session, comments collected during the public hearing process help inform the UIAC’s legislative agenda.

Members of the public are encouraged to attend the virtual public hearing sessions on Thursday, November 21, 2024. The first session will be held from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and the second session from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. Advance registration is required.

For those unable to attend a public hearing session, written comments will be accepted between Thursday, November 14, 2024, and Friday, November 22, 2024. Written comments can be submitted by email or U.S. mail:

Email:
UILawChange@dwd.wisconsin.gov
(Note: Email comments accepted Nov. 14-22, 2024)

Mail:
Janell Knutson, Chair
Unemployment Insurance Advisory Council
P.O. Box 8942
Madison, WI 53708

The Labor Department on Wednesday said that the consumer price index (CPI) – a broad measure of how much everyday goods like gasoline, groceries and rent cost – rose 0.2% in October from the prior month and was up 2.6% from a year ago.

So-called core prices, which exclude more volatile measurements of gasoline and food to better assess price growth trends, were up 0.3% on a monthly basis in October and 3.3% from a year ago – both of which were unchanged compared with last month’s readings.

Over half of the rise in CPI was caused by shelter prices, which rose 0.4% in October on a monthly basis, while food prices were up 0.2% and energy prices were unchanged. Core CPI’s rise was due in part to prices for used cars and trucks rising by 2.7% compared with September.

Food prices were up 0.2% on a monthly basis and 2.1% from a year ago, though food away from home was up 3.8% in that period.

Energy prices are down 4.9% compared to a year ago, with gasoline down 12.4%. However, electricity prices are up 4% while utility gas service is up 4.5%.

Shelter prices are also up 4.9% from last year, while the cost of transportation services increased 8.2% and medical care services by 3.8% in that period. Each of those rose 0.4% on a monthly basis.

Devin LeMahieu will return as the Republican majority leader of the Wisconsin Senate.

The GOP caucus elected LeMahieu to the position during a meeting Thursday. LeMehieu said in a news release that the top issue for Republicans this legislative session will be returning the state’s funding surplus to families.

LeMahieu, of Oostburg, has represented parts of Manitowoc, Sheboygan and Fond du Lac counties in the Legislature since 2015. He served as majority leader during the 2021-22 and 2023-24 sessions.

He’ll preside over a smaller majority this session. Bolstered by new district boundaries that Democratic Gov. Tony Evers enacted last year, Democrats flipped four Republican districts in Tuesday’s election and shrank the GOP majority from 22-11 to 18-15.

Customers of We Energies and Wisconsin Public Service will pay more for electricity in 2025 and 2026, after the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin on Thursday approved rate increases for both utilities.

In the We Energies case, the commission approved a 8.79 percent overall electric rate increase over the next two years. The PSC says that’s roughly $188 million less than the utility had requested over that span.

It translates into a $7.62 increase in monthly electric bills in 2025 for an average residential We Energies customer, and a $9.73 increase in 2026, according to preliminary estimates from the PSC. That’s a cumulative increase of 12.38 percent over two years, the PSC says.

In Wisconsin Public Service’s case, the commission approved a 7.33 percent overall electric rate increase over the next two years. The PSC says that’s roughly $134 million less than the utility had requested over that span.

It translates into an estimated $7.11 increase in 2025 on an average residential customer’s monthly electric bill, followed by another $5.04 average monthly increase in 2026, according to estimates from the PSC. That’s a cumulative increase of 11.52 percent over the two years, the PSC says.

The Federal Reserve approved its second consecutive interest rate cut Thursday, moving at a less aggressive pace than before but continuing its efforts to right-size monetary policy.

In a follow-up to September’s big half percentage point reduction, the Federal Open Market Committee lowered its benchmark overnight borrowing rate by a quarter percentage point, or 25 basis points, to a target range of 4.50%-4.75%. The rate sets what banks charge each other for overnight lending but often influences consumer debt instruments such as mortgages, credit cards and auto loans.

The post-meeting statement reflected a few tweaks in how the Fed views the economy. Among them was an altered view in how it assesses the effort to bring down inflation while supporting the labor market.

“The Committee judges that the risks to achieving its employment and inflation goals are roughly in balance,” the document said, a change from September when it noted “greater confidence” in the process.

Officials have largely framed the change in policy as an attempt to get the rate structure back in line with an economy where inflation is drifting back to the central bank’s 2% target while the labor market has shown some indications of softening. Fed Chair Jerome Powell has spoken of “recalibrating” policy back to where it no longer needs to be as restrictive as it was when the central bank focused almost solely on taming inflation.

“This further recalibration of our policy stance will help maintain the strength of the economy and the labor market and will continue to enable further progress on inflation as we move towards a more neutral stance,” Powell said at his post-meeting news conference.

Preliminary results show many Wisconsin school districts successfully made the case to voters Tuesday that schools were in need of additional tax support.

Voters in 137 school districts were asked to approve increased funding for schools. A preliminary analysis by the Wisconsin Policy Forum found 107 referendum questions passed, while 30 failed.

School districts are funded by a mix of taxpayer dollars, state and federal aid.

The 2023-25 state budget included an annual funding increase for public schools of $325 per student to the state-imposed limit on revenues districts can receive in school aids and local property taxes combined.

While this provides some relief, school districts say it didn’t catch them up from a freeze in state revenue caps in the previous two-year budget, or the declining enrollment many public school districts are experiencing.