While Wisconsin is celebrating a record-low unemployment rate, more jobs need to be filled, including within the agriculture sector. Without more people, what solutions are out there? This is where artificial intelligence is coming in.
Wisconsin achieved a new record-high for employment during November 2024, according to preliminary estimates from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Wisconsin’s labor force increased by 7,200 over the month and 14,700 over the year. The number of people employed increased by 6,000 over the month to a record-high 3,073,900 employed, surpassing the state’s previous record high in October 2024.
Estimates for November 2024 show Wisconsin’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate at 2.9 percent. That’s 1.3 percentage points below the national unemployment rate of 4.2 percent.
“Wisconsin’s labor market set one record after another this year, and we will continue our efforts to support workers across the state in 2025,” says Department of Workforce Development Secretary Amy Pechacek.
Pechacek says Wisconsin is leading the way in the early adoption of artificial intelligence.
“We have 15 percent of all the employees working in our state currently doing work with AI augmentation as part of their daily work life,” she says. “An additional 5 percent of businesses in our state are anticipating adopting AI within the next six months.”
Agriculture is included in the AI conversation, if not the first at the table. Pechacek says 18 percent of Wisconsin farmers use AI for precision agriculture practices.
“This is things like GPS, computer and farm equipment technology to do seeding and soil maintenance… automated robotic milking systems,” she lists. “This helps augment the fact that right now we know population shortages exist in our rural areas.”
