A retired Ripon College economist says another drop in the statewide unemployment rate doesn’t come as a surprise. The 12 percent rate for May, dropped from 13.6 percent in April. Economist Paul Schoofs says the state’s Safer at Home order closing most nonessential businesses due to the pandemic was in effect for two weeks in May before being struck down. Schoofs says the drop shows that employers were ready to hire back workers as soon as they were allowed to reopen. Schoofs says he expects another drop in the jobless rate when the June figures are released.
