Fond du Lac jobs shrink even as unemployment stays low
-50 jobs/month
Metro monthly job change (2026 avg)
vs +58/month average in 2025
3.2%
Fond du Lac unemployment rate
vs 2.7% WI, 4.2% U.S. (Sept 2026)
Below 2019 levels
Metro employment vs. pre-pandemic
Structural gap per WI DOR, Sept 2025
-8,100 jobs
Wisconsin statewide job loss since peak
From Nov 2024 peak to July 2026
This Month's Takeaways
01
Metro job count is shrinking while the jobless rate looks fine.
Fond du Lac has averaged a 50-job-per-month decline in 2026, yet unemployment sits at 3.2% — a sign workers may be leaving the labor force or taking jobs outside the metro rather than evidence of a healthy, tight market. This combination deserves more scrutiny than the headline rate alone provides.
02
Skilled trades pay is diverging sharply from the broader metro trend.
Electrician ($83,200) and HVAC technician ($79,040) advertised pay both posted significant local increases, outpacing national growth in the same roles. That signal is consistent with genuine capacity constraints in construction-adjacent trades even as manufacturing and trade-sector employment contracts.
03
Office and administrative pay softness echoes the metro's structural drag.
Administrative assistant pay fell significantly locally ($39,902) while rising nationally, and accountant and business analyst pay dropped as well — a pattern that tracks the metro's broader underperformance relative to Wisconsin's record 2025 median wage. Local purchasing power in office-based roles is losing ground to both inflation and national peers.
04
Wisconsin's statewide cooling is now visible at the metro level.
Wisconsin lost 8,100 jobs since its November 2024 peak, and Fond du Lac's employment remaining below 2019 levels suggests the metro is tracking — or leading — that statewide deceleration rather than bucking it. Commerce leaders should treat state-level stabilization claims cautiously until metro payroll data turns positive.
Local Economic Conditions
Fond du Lac MSA employment has shed roughly 50 jobs per month on average through 2026, pushing nonfarm employment to 54.9 thousand in August and keeping the metro below its 2019 employment baseline even as the unemployment rate held at a still-low 3.2%. The softness is concentrated in trade, transportation, and manufacturing — mirroring statewide contraction in those sectors — while healthcare (SSM Health, ThedaCare presence) and skilled trades show advertised-pay strength that points to uneven, not uniform, local demand.
Open Threads in the Data
Flat-to-declining headcount alongside a low unemployment rate signals a metro economy that is tightening on labor supply even as overall job growth stalls — a pattern consistent with a region approaching capacity constraints rather than one in clear expansion. For commerce leaders weighing local investment, the divergence between soft manufacturing/trade payrolls and strong advertised pay in electrician, HVAC, and nursing roles suggests expansion opportunities are sector-specific rather than metro-wide. Current conditions suggest economic development and chamber leadership evaluate sector-targeted support — skilled trades and healthcare capacity — rather than broad-based business attraction messaging this quarter.
Advertised Pay Indicators · WageScape Benchmark 25 Jobs
Job postings data for the Fond du Lac, WI MSA metro — median advertised pay, its recent trend, and the number of active postings behind each figure. Jobs are grouped for readability and are not the same as the 10 sector classifications on the next page. For additional job detail contact WageScape.
Retail Trade
| Retail Sales Associate |
$27,040 |
↓ Moderate decline |
407 |
| Retail Cashier |
$28,080 |
→ Stable |
255 |
Transportation & Warehousing
| Warehouse/Fulfillment Associate |
$37,440 |
→ Stable |
94 |
| CDL Truck Driver |
$74,880 |
↓ Moderate decline |
1,078 |
| Delivery Driver |
$31,595 |
↓ Significant decline |
486 |
| Warehouse Manager |
— |
Limited local postings |
— |
Construction
| Construction Laborer |
$49,920 |
→ Stable |
104 |
Construction/Skilled Trades
| Electrician |
$83,200 |
↑ Significant increase |
94 |
| HVAC Technician |
$79,040 |
↑ Significant increase |
10 |
Manufacturing
| Manufacturing Production Worker/Assembler |
$40,639 |
→ Stable |
94 |
Cross-Sector
| Customer Service Representative |
$41,099 |
↓ Moderate decline |
84 |
| Operations Manager |
— |
Limited local postings |
— |
Leisure & Hospitality
| Food Service Worker |
$33,955 |
→ Stable |
65 |
Healthcare
| Certified Nursing Assistant / Home Health Aide |
$42,640 |
→ Stable |
422 |
| Registered Nurse |
$97,351 |
↑ Moderate increase |
939 |
Admin/Office Support
| Administrative Assistant/Office Clerk |
$39,902 |
↓ Significant decline |
125 |
Information/Technology
| Software Engineer |
$112,473 |
↑ Significant increase |
28 |
| Data Engineer |
$127,700 |
↑ Moderate increase |
1,125 |
Professional & Business Services
| Accountant |
$59,649 |
↓ Moderate decline |
37 |
| HR Generalist/Manager |
$76,650 |
↑ Significant increase |
22 |
| Marketing Specialist |
$56,160 |
→ Stable |
31 |
| Business Analyst |
$79,213 |
↓ Significant decline |
10 |
Finance & Insurance
| Financial Analyst |
$78,615 |
↑ Significant increase |
24 |
Government/Education
| Elementary/Secondary School Teacher |
$33,280 |
↓ Significant decline |
147 |
Cross-Sector Sales
| Account Manager |
$75,000 |
↑ Significant increase |
99 |
Industry Snapshot · Fond du Lac, WI MSA
Advertised pay and job-posting trends across the whole metro economy, rolled up by employer industry — not just the bellwether roles above.
| Sector |
Median Pay Change |
Job Postings Change |
| Construction |
↑ +29.8% |
↑ +104.8% |
| Manufacturing |
↓ −3.4% |
↑ +284.9% |
| Retail Trade |
→ +0.4% |
↑ +177.3% |
| Transportation, Warehousing & Utilities |
↓ −16.2% |
↑ +212.1% |
| Information |
↑ +60.8% |
↑ +90.4% |
| Financial Activities |
↓ −15.1% |
↑ +320.8% |
| Professional & Business Services |
→ +0.4% |
↑ +241.0% |
| Education & Health Services |
↓ −16.9% |
↑ +108.6% |
| Leisure & Hospitality |
↓ −9.6% |
↑ +192.6% |
| Government |
↑ +85.6% |
↑ +776.2% |
Looking Ahead · Next 30–60 Days
Early indicator
Watch whether Fond du Lac's monthly job losses (averaging -50/month in 2026) narrow or deepen when September BLS data publishes in October; a third consecutive worsening month would mark a trend shift worth flagging publicly.
Emerging pressure point
Wisconsin's wage-vs-inflation gap (4.2% forecast wage growth against 3.9% core CPI) is thin; any local inflation surprise could erase the modest real-wage gains manufacturing and trade workers are still seeing.
Worth watching
National WARN filings naming Amazon, Meta, Oracle, and Tyson Foods have not yet shown a local Fond du Lac analog, but Wisconsin's 56 statewide WARN notices in 2026 warrant a check on whether regional manufacturing layoffs reach the metro's job boards.
Potential inflection point
Healthcare and skilled-trades pay growth (RN, electrician, HVAC) could either stabilize the metro's overall wage picture or simply widen the gap with declining white-collar and retail-adjacent roles — a split worth tracking in October's advertised-pay data.
Sources & Methodology
Pay and hiring data provided by WageScape. See every source cited in this report, with links →
Advertised pay reflects the pay ranges employers publish in active job postings in this metro, not survey or payroll data. Pay trends compare the current period with the prior period for the same metro and role. Sector figures group postings by the employer's industry classification; sectors with limited classified postings are marked as such rather than estimated. This briefing is independent of, and complements, official statistics from the BLS and state labor market information offices.
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