Milwaukee and Tampa labor data highlight economic backdrop to baseball championship series

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Highlights

Milwaukee-Waukesha's September 2026 unemployment rate is 3.2% with 777,300 employed and private industry weekly earnings at $1,189.98.
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater reports a 4.3% unemployment rate in September 2026, 1,394,500 private industry employed, and $1,272.24 average weekly earnings.
Food services and drinking places lead employment in both Milwaukee County and Pinellas County, with over 30,000 and 41,042 jobs respectively in 2025.

September labor indicators in both metro areas

As reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Milwaukee-Waukesha, Wisconsin, metropolitan area has an unemployment rate of 3.2% in September 2026, with private industry average weekly earnings of $1,189.98 and employment of 777,300.

In the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metropolitan area, the unemployment rate stands at 4.3% in September 2026. Private industry employment reaches 1,394,500, and average weekly earnings are $1,272.24.

Milwaukee's baseball club returns to the championship series for the first time since 1982 and secures its first world championship by winning the series in five games. Tampa's previous appearance comes in 2020.

County industry mix around the stadiums

In Milwaukee County, home to the team's stadium, the largest employers in 2025 are food services and drinking places and hospitals, with each industry averaging more than 30,000 jobs. Beverage manufacturing, a category that includes breweries, employs 1,750 people.

In Pinellas County, Florida, home to Tampa's stadium, food services and drinking places is the largest industry with employment of 41,042. Professional, scientific, and technical services is the only other industry in the county with employment above 30,000.

The unemployment figures come from the Local Area Unemployment Statistics program. Metro area employment and earnings data come from the Current Employment Statistics, State and Metro Area program, while county employment data come from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages program; metro figures are preliminary and not seasonally adjusted.

In our earlier article on early-career job-hopping and wage growth, we looked at research showing that changing jobs in the first years of a career is a major driver of pay gains and a pathway to better long-term job matches. The piece also highlighted the tension between cultural skepticism toward short tenures and evidence that labor mobility can improve earnings progression and stability across the U.S. workforce.

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