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Labor Market Pulse
Green Bay, WI Metro Edition
Focus: RESTAURANT
Green Bay pays up for GMs while entry-level wages cool.
$57,642
GM/Manager advertised pay
Up locally vs down to $59,762 nationally
3.2%
Wisconsin unemployment rate
Down from 3.3% in July; below 4.1% national
18,541
Brown County posted openings
As of Aug. 6, 2026, per Indeed.com
$2.33/hr
Wisconsin tipped minimum wage
Unchanged since 2009; Milwaukee sets $12.00 base
This Month's Takeaways
General manager pay is rising against the national grain.
Green Bay's GM/Restaurant Manager advertised median climbed to $57,642 while the national figure fell to $59,762 — a narrowing gap that suggests local operators are paying up specifically to retain scarce leadership talent rather than following broader market softness.
Entry-level softening doesn't mean entry-level slack.
Crew and Shift Manager advertised pay both moved down locally, but this likely reflects moderating urgency after last year's hiring surge rather than genuine surplus labor supply — Brown County's 18,500-plus open roles argue against reading this as easy hiring conditions.
Wisconsin's frozen minimum wage is a widening liability, not a stable baseline.
The $7.25/$2.33 tipped floor hasn't moved since 2009, while Milwaukee's $12.00 minimum and multi-state tip-credit elimination trends raise the reference point candidates use to judge offers. Multi-location operators anchored to the state floor risk losing front-of-house candidates to employers who've already adjusted upward.
National hiring rebound may mask a retention story locally.
Restaurant payrolls posted their largest national one-month gain since January 2023, yet operators nationally report quits and job openings both falling sharply — consistent with a market where retaining current staff, not filling new postings, is becoming the more urgent lever on labor cost.
Local Labor Conditions
Brown County's roughly 18,500 posted openings against a 3.2% statewide unemployment rate confirm Green Bay operators are competing for a shrinking labor pool, with full-service restaurant employment nationally still 3.6% below pre-pandemic staffing levels. Wisconsin's frozen $7.25 minimum wage and $2.33 tipped rate leave local operators exposed as neighboring Milwaukee's $12.00 minimum and a wave of state-level tip-credit eliminations elsewhere raise the bar for what workers expect to earn.
Leadership & Talent Implications
Restaurant Manager/General Manager advertised pay rose to $57,642 locally even as the national figure declined — a signal that Green Bay operators are bidding up leadership roles to protect against turnover in a metro where job openings vastly outnumber available candidates. Falling advertised pay for Crew, Catering Manager, and Shift Manager roles suggests softening urgency at the entry and mid-tier level, creating room to hold base wages steady there while redirecting increases toward retention-critical management and kitchen positions. Consider reviewing whether management pay increases are being funded by savings elsewhere in the labor line, rather than expanding total labor cost as a share of revenue.
