The U.S. added just 29,000 jobs in September as gas topped $4 in Green Bay and mortgage rates hit a two-year high. Farmers, Meals on Wheels drivers and homebuyers across Northeast Wisconsin are already paying for it.
The U.S. economy added just 29,000 jobs in September, the unemployment rate rose to 4.2%, and the two months before it were revised down by a combined 60,000 jobs, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.1 That report landed in a week when Wisconsin drivers were paying more than $4 a gallon for gas, a 30-year mortgage cost more than 7%, and Northeast Wisconsin farmers and nonprofits were telling local reporters that fuel costs were eating into everything else.
None of those numbers alone is a crisis. Together, they describe a squeeze on working households in Brown County and the Fox Valley: wages growing more slowly than prices, borrowing getting more expensive, and hiring cooling across the country even as the local job market holds up better than the nation's.
Economists had expected roughly 90,000 new jobs in September, according to SHRM and CBS MoneyWatch.2,3 Instead, payrolls barely moved. BLS revised July from a gain of 21,000 to a loss of 10,000 and cut August from 162,000 to 133,000.1 About 7.1 million people were unemployed, and 1.9 million of them had been out of work for 27 weeks or longer.1
The jobs that did appear were concentrated in a few places. Health care added about 17,000 positions, construction 11,000 and manufacturing 9,000, while financial activities lost 7,000 and information and professional services also shed jobs.1 Government employment fell by about 17,000, SHRM reported.2 "Only healthcare and construction were hiring, and it was weak," Navy Federal Credit Union chief economist Heather Long told CBS.3
Paychecks aren't keeping pace. Average hourly earnings rose a nickel in September, to $37.81, and were up 3% over the year.1 SHRM called that the slowest annual wage growth since May 2021.2 CBS noted that inflation ran at 3.4% in August, which means the typical worker's raise is buying less than it did a year ago.3
Wisconsin's labor market still looks stronger than the country's. The state's unemployment rate was 3.2% in August, nearly a full point below the national rate at the time, and Wisconsin added 11,800 nonfarm jobs from July, according to the Department of Workforce Development.4 The state's labor force participation rate, 64.7%, also runs well ahead of the national figure.4
The local trend line is less comfortable. DWD's August county and metro data showed unemployment higher than a year earlier in all 13 Wisconsin metro areas and in 64 of the state's 72 counties.5 The Green Bay metro rate was 3.1%, up from 2.8% in August 2025. Appleton rose from 2.8% to 3.0%, and Oshkosh-Neenah from 2.9% to 3.3%.6 Brown County sat at 3.1%, Winnebago County at 3.3% and Oconto County at 3.4%.6
Those are still low rates by historical standards. But they've moved in one direction for a year, and September's national report suggests the cooling hasn't stopped.
Wisconsin's average price for regular gas was $4.16 a gallon on Sunday, according to AAA, down slightly from a week earlier but about $1.37 higher than a year ago, when it was $2.80.7 Green Bay averaged $4.19, Appleton $4.13 and Oshkosh $4.18.7 Diesel, which runs farm equipment, delivery trucks and school buses, averaged $6.33 in Wisconsin, up from $3.48 a year ago.7
Nationally, September's average of $4.33 a gallon was the highest on record for that month, AAA said, 50 cents above the previous September record set in 2023.8 "Overall gas prices remain the highest they've ever been for this time of year," the auto club said.8 Energy analysts have tied the run-up to the U.S. and Israeli attack on Iran in late February, which disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. Gas averaged $2.98 nationally before the war, CBS News reported in June.9 Diesel exports have their own politics, which Fox Watershed covered in September.
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In Kewaunee County, farmer Clark Riemer told NBC26 that some of his equipment holds 250 gallons or more and that he has no way to pass the cost on when he sells his grain. "It could mean the end of the family farm if input costs stay high," he said.10 Riemer also pointed to tariffs that have cut soybean demand.10 Midwest soybean growers lost nearly $75 per harvested acre in 2025 even after federal aid, according to American Soybean Association figures reported by Wisconsin Watch, and the Hormuz disruption has also raised nitrogen fertilizer prices.11
The costs land on services, too. The Aging and Disability Resource Center of the Lakeshore, which runs Meals on Wheels in Manitowoc and Kewaunee counties, reimburses volunteer drivers 72 cents a mile, up from 67 cents in 2024 and about 53 cents in 2017.12 Director Wendy Hutterer told NBC26 that higher reimbursements leave less money for meals, and that the program already has gaps. "Volunteers are at a minimum right now, we have open routes," she said.12
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, visiting Wisconsin on Sept. 30, said federal relief on diesel prices was coming "very soon" and urged states to act on their own, WTMJ reported.13 She didn't detail the plan.
For anyone trying to buy a house, borrowing just got harder. Freddie Mac's weekly survey put the average 30-year fixed rate at 7.28% on Oct. 1, up from 7.03% a week earlier and 6.34% a year ago.14 Bankrate's survey of lenders put the 30-year rate at 7.38%, its highest since May 2024.15 The two surveys measure different things, which is why the figures differ.
That's piling onto already high prices. The Wisconsin Realtors Association reported that August home sales fell 8.3% from a year earlier while the statewide median price climbed 7.1%, to $362,000.16 The association's affordability index dropped to its lowest level since it began tracking in 2009.16 "Home prices are up by more than twice the rate of inflation over the last year," WRA CEO Tom Larson said.16 In the Northeast region, sales fell 6.2% and the median price held near $333,000.16
The Federal Reserve isn't offering relief. On Sept. 16, the Fed raised its benchmark rate by a quarter point, to a range of 3.75% to 4%, its first increase since 2023, and said inflation "remains elevated."17
Tariffs are showing up in Great Lakes shipping. WPR reported last week that tonnage through the Port of Duluth-Superior was down 25% through August and that steel volumes at Port Milwaukee had fallen more than 30%, in part because of Trump administration tariffs.18 The story didn't include figures for the Port of Green Bay.
At the same time, Wisconsin is absorbing new costs for food assistance. Under the federal budget law Congress passed last year, the state's share of FoodShare administrative costs rose from 50% to 75% on Oct. 1, about $43 million a year, WPR reported.19,20 Jackie Anderson of Feeding Wisconsin told WPR the state could face up to $204 million more if its payment error rate tops 6% when it's measured next year.19 Expanded work requirements for FoodShare recipients affect about 43,700 Wisconsinites, according to the state Department of Health Services.20
The September consumer price index comes out Oct. 14, and the October jobs report is due Nov. 6, three days after the midterm election.21 DWD is scheduled to release September state jobs numbers Oct. 15 and county and metro figures Oct. 21.22 The Fed meets again Oct. 27 and 28.23 Yahoo Finance reported that the weak September report strengthens the case for the Fed to hold rates steady rather than raise them again,24 and New York Fed President John Williams said there was "no need for urgency" heading into the October meeting, Axios reported.25
For Northeast Wisconsin households, the near-term questions are simpler: whether gas falls before heating season, whether the promised diesel relief arrives before harvest ends, and whether local employers keep hiring as the national numbers soften.
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