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On May 27th, the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development (DWD) announced the preliminary April 2020 unemployment rates for Wisconsin’s 72 counties and the 34 cities with populations greater than 25,000 residents. St. Croix County’s April rate was estimated at 17.8%, which is substantially higher than the final rate of 4.0% for March and February’s rate of 4.8%. One year ago, the county’s unemployment rate was estimated at 3.5%.

DWD said preliminary unemployment rates from March to April and year-over-year increased in all 72 counties. The rates ranged from 9.7% in Lafayette to 26.2% in Menominee.

Preliminary unemployment rates increased in all of Wisconsin’s 34 largest municipalities from March to April as well as year-over-year. Rates ranged from 9.9% in Fitchburg to 21.1% in Superior.

The five counties with the lowest unemployment rates in April include Lafayette (9.7%), Clark (10.0%), Kewuanee (10.2%), Taylor (10.9%), and Dane (11.3%). Menominee County had the highest rate in April at 26.2%, followed by Iron (also at 26.2%), Bayfield (24.1%), Burnett (23.5%), and Douglas (23.3%).

St. Croix, Pierce, Polk, and Dunn counties comprise Wisconsin’s Greater St. Croix Valley. In addition to St. Croix’s rate of 17.8%, April’s preliminary rate in Dunn is 12.3%, while Pierce reported 17.4% and 17.7% in Polk.

St. Croix and Pierce counties are included in the 15-county Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington MN-WI metro area. The April 2020 unemployment rate for the Twin Cities was estimated at 9.2%, which is higher than the final rate of 3.1% for both March and February. The unemployment rate in the Twin Cities was 2.9% in April 2019.

The preliminary (seasonally adjusted) unemployment rate for Wisconsin in April was estimated at 14.1%, which is significantly higher than March’s final rate of 3.1% and February’s final rate of 3.5%. One year ago, the state’s seasonally adjusted rate was 3.3%.

The preliminary (seasonally adjusted) unemployment rate in Minnesota in April was estimated at 8.1%, which is significantly higher than March’s final rate of 2.9% and February’s final rate of 3.1%. Minnesota’s seasonally-adjusted rate one year ago was 3.2%.

The preliminary (seasonally adjusted) unemployment rate in the U.S. for April was estimated at 14.7%, which is significantly higher than March’s final rate of 4.4% and February’s final rate of 3.6%. One year ago, the U.S. rate (seasonally adjusted) was estimated at 3.6%

Wisconsin’s preliminary (seasonally adjusted) labor force participation rate for April was 66.6%, which is higher than March’s final rate of 66.4% but lower than February’s final rate of 66.9%. One year ago, Wisconsin’s labor force participation rate was 67.0%. The preliminary (seasonally adjusted) labor force participation rate for the U.S. in April was estimated at 60.2% which is lower than March’s final rate of 62.7% and February’s final rate of 63.4%. One year ago, the labor force participation rate in the U.S. was 62.8%.

April’s estimates are preliminary and are subject to revision within the next few weeks.