Nearly a million job openings are projected in Wisconsin over the next eight years. That from the Department of Workforce Development , where staffers periodically crunch the numbers. DWD Secretary Roberta Gassman says that includes nearly 22,000 registered nurses, 9600 hundred elementary school teachers, and thousands of carpenters and welders. Gassman notes these are not new jobs, as does Jim Pugh with the industry group, Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce . “Those are openings created by retirements,” notes Pugh. “We need to be ready for that, and hopefully we will be.”
The data from DWD shows anticipated trends for nearly eight hundred occupations in ninety industries. The state has been producing these long term projections since 1970.