evidence: MADISON – The Department of Workforce Development (DWD) today released the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) preliminary employment estimates for the month of April 2023, which showed Wisconsin's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped to a record low of 2.4%. The total number of unemployed people dropped by 3,700 over the month of April and 13,300 over the year to a new record low of 72,900. In addition, total seasonally adjusted nonfarm jobs increased 3,800 over the month of April and 51,500 year-over-year to hit a new record high of 3,003,600. The total jobs number puts the state 9,600 jobs above the pre-COVID-19 peak in January 2020. Wisconsin's record low unemployment rate of 2.4% for April is down 0.1 percentage points from the March rate of 2.5%, which was the previous record low. The state's labor force participation rate increased by 0.2 percentage point over the month to 64.8%. Nationwide for the month of April, the U.S. unemployment rate was 3.4% with a labor force participation rate of 62.6%.