The economic expansion that began in 1991 has turned out to be longer and stronger than any other in American history. Over the last five years, economic growth and declining unemployment rates have started to bear fruit for working families incomes. Even so, the typical American family is working more hours, wage inequality remains high, poverty has stagnated rather than fallen, and poor job quality is still a serious American problem.

Where do Wisconsin workers and families stand in this picture? Are we doing better or worse than the national average, better or worse than our own recent past? How equally are we distributing the fruits of growth, and have things improved for our poorest workers? The State of Working Wisconsin 2000 is our attempt to answer these questions with the best and most recent information available. Drawing on a wide variety of data we find that median family income and median wages are up and growing in the 1990s. Still, there is cause for concern: our families are working longer hours, income inequality here is on the rise, and many of Wisconsin’s workers remain stuck in low-wage jobs.