In the 2023 State of Working Wisconsin report, the High Road Strategy Center (formerly COWS) found that Wisconsin workers experienced strong job growth and low unemployment. However, most workers’ wages didn’t grow fast enough to stay ahead of high inflation. Guest host Bert Zipperer talks author of the report Laura Dresser to help us understand the state of labor as we kick off the new year.

Laura Dresser is Associate Director of High Road Strategy Center (formerly COWS). Laura is a labor economist and expert on low-wage work and workforce development systems. She is a co-editor of The Gloves-Off Economy: Workplace Standards at the Bottom of America’s Labor Market, lead author of every edition of the State of Working Wisconsin, and frequent source on the Wisconsin economy and unions’ role in labor markets. She is also a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Sandra Rosenbaum School of Social Work.

Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash

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