Roberta Gassman Quotations

With the lowest February unemployment rate in five years, nearly 28,500 more people working and some 5,100 fewer unemployed in Wisconsin than one-year-ago, we have strong evidence that the state's labor market is moving in a positive direction.

Based on projections, in 10 to 15 years we (in Wisconsin) are going to face a serious shortage.

Wisconsin's labor market continues to show healthy gains in 2006 in all of our metropolitan areas, with decreasing unemployment for the second month in a row when compared with 2005.

While our December unemployment rates show a small increase, such an increase is typical between November and December. Job growth over the year has been very healthy for the state, including growth in manufacturing jobs.

With a majority of our employment sectors showing increases in the number of jobs, the figures for March indicate that Wisconsin's labor market remains healthy and strong and moving in the right direction.

We are very concerned about these shortages and are seeking input from today's nurses to help us more effectively train and attract new workers to the health care field.

The best investment we can make for our future is investing in our current and future workers.

Individuals are working in low-wage jobs and do not have benefits. It makes it very hard for them to support their families and leave poverty.