This past year has shown there’s much we can accomplish when we work together. Today, there are pressing issues that demand our work bridging partisan divides continues.
I, again, am calling on this Legislature to address what I believe are the two greatest challenges facing our state: the first, our decade-long struggle to retain, attract, and train talented workers to address our state’s workforce shortages; and the second, the Republican majority’s disinterest in working toward a meaningful, bipartisan plan to do something about it.
Folks, “no” isn’t a workforce plan. Asking more kids to work isn’t a workforce plan. Giving more big breaks to millionaires and billionaires isn’t a workforce plan. These are not serious proposals to address generational, statewide issues.
In April last year, our state unemployment rate hit a record-low of 2.4 percent. Last year, Wisconsin had the all-time lowest number of unemployed workers ever in modern history. And our state’s labor force participation rate also consistently remained above the national average throughout the year.
So, it’s also time to retire the well-worn political talking point that Wisconsinites aren’t working or working hard—Wisconsinites work hard, and they are working.
From my vantage point, three things are key to addressing our state’s workforce challenges: first, we must find a long-term solution to our state’s looming child care crisis; second, we must expand paid family leave; and third, we must invest in public education at every level, from early childhood to our technical colleges and universities.
Wisconsin faces a looming child care crisis—costs to working families are skyrocketing, we don’t have enough child care providers, and the providers we have are struggling to keep the lights on. And the effects are intuitive—if a kid no longer has child care or a parent can’t afford it, someone’s going to have to stay home with them. Folks, lack of accessible, affordable child care is a statewide workforce issue.
Without continued investments in Child Care Counts, our workforce will suffer mightily: 2,110 child care programs are projected to close. 87,000 kids could be without child care. We could lose over 4,880 child care jobs. That’s about a half a billion dollar economic impact on our state.
I introduced a comprehensive workforce plan to stabilize our child care industry and prevent its collapse. Republicans rejected it. So, last fall, I directed $170 million in emergency funding to keep our child care industry afloat.
I want to be clear: I directed the funding that I could, but it wasn’t enough. Wisconsin child care providers will soon receive their final payment from the federally-funded portion of Child Care Counts. So, the emergency $170 million I directed last fall as a stopgap measure now kicks in. Republicans are officially on the clock to make the meaningful investments necessary to prevent the collapse of an industry that’s essential for maintaining our current levels of workforce participation.
Wisconsin, we also need to expand paid family leave.
I’ve proposed investing $240 million to jumpstart a program that would provide most private-sector workers 12 weeks of paid leave. Republicans rejected my proposal. Twice. Paid leave is the right thing to do for kids and families, and it’s also what we need to do to compete for and keep talented workers.
And, yes, doing what’s best for our kids is what’s best for our state—and it’s what’s best for our families and our workforce, too. So, yes, we must invest in public education at every level, from early childhood to our technical colleges and universities.
I will never expect Republicans and Democrats in this building to agree with each other—or me, for that matter—on the merits of every policy 100 percent of the time. That’s democracy. But there is no excuse for not being willing to work together on what everyone agrees is the most pressing issue facing our state.
I’ve introduced a comprehensive workforce plan. Twice. If anyone on either side of this aisle has a better plan than mine that not only prevents the collapse of our state’s child care industry but also helps us compete against our neighboring states for talent and invests in public education at every level to prepare our kids for the future, let’s hear it. I will work with any legislator, any partner, any stakeholder who’s willing to engage in meaningful conversations on these issues to do the right thing for Wisconsin.
In the meantime, my administration will continue to pursue every pathway and seek every avenue to address our workforce challenges without legislative action, just as we have for five years. And we continue that work here tonight.
Making sure our workforce is prepared to meet the needs of a 21st-century economy is a top priority for me. And my administration is going to lead by example. It’s why, tonight, I’m declaring 2024 the Year of the Worker in Wisconsin.
We are working in earnest to reduce barriers to employment so we can try to make sure every available worker can join our workforce. I directed over $150 million to find innovative, long-term solutions to our workforce challenges, subsidize employment and skills training with local employers, and support
Wisconsinites working to re-engage in our workforce. Because of that investment, we’ve been able to deliver workforce training and support services to more than 33,000 Wisconsinites across our state.
I joined the Wisconsin Laborers about a year ago to announce Wisconsin had the highest participation in our Registered Apprenticeship program in two decades. In November, I celebrated National Apprenticeship Week and announced Wisconsin reached the all-time record-high number of participants in the Registered Apprenticeship program’s 112-year history.
There are also high-need areas of our workforce we need to bolster and support. According to the Department of Workforce Development, Wisconsin faces a potential deficit of 20,000 nurses by 2040. Between 2020 and 2030, Wisconsin’s healthcare industry will see nearly 32,000 annual openings across occupations. So, last year, my administration launched one of the country’s first-ever Registered Nurse apprenticeship pathways to help address the demand for nurses. And we launched a new initiative to train over 10,000 certified direct care professionals to address our state’s shortage of caregivers.
But there’s more we have to do to address our healthcare industry’s chronic challenges. Next week, I’ll sign an executive order creating a new Healthcare Workforce Task Force focused on finding long-term solutions to our state’s healthcare industry challenges and make recommendations for me to consider in my next biennial budget.
We also know we must work to retain and recruit talented educators who work every day to do what’s best for our kids. Recent estimates show only 67 percent of new educators in Wisconsin make it past five years. So, through the Department of Workforce Development, our administration is launching a new teacher apprenticeship pilot program with the Department of Public Instruction to provide more mentorship and support for new educators.
Finally, as one of the largest employers in the state, my administration is also going to make sure the State of Wisconsin is leading the way and by example with new efforts to recruit and retain talented workers for our state workforce. I’m also announcing tonight I’m creating a new Office of State Employee Engagement and Retention to improve retention, mentorship, and engagement of our state workers across all of our state agencies.
Wisconsin, we’ve proven this past year that we can do big things when we’re willing to do them together. I know we can build upon these efforts in 2024, and together we will.
Let’s get back at it, and let’s get to work.
Thank you, and On, Wisconsin!
UW Marching Band, take it away!”
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Adjournment
The Joint Convention arose
7:48 P.M.
