The State of Working Wisconsin 2025 report from the High Road Strategy Center affirms what workers and their families across the state have been saying for years. Families are deeply struggling to make ends meet, workers don’t make a livable wage or get basic protections, and in some severe cases, employers are stealing workers’ hard earned wages. 

Meanwhile wealthy corporations are boasting record profits. But these profits don’t just appear out of thin air. They’re often the result of employers not paying their workers what they’re owed.

This Labor Day, we’re calling on decision makers to take bold action. Wisconsin’s legislators should prioritize workers and their families, starting with:

1. Investing in Sustained, Affordable Child Care

Last year’s State of Working Wisconsin report made it clear that Wisconsin’s child care industry is in a crisis, and the problem has likely gotten worse. Parents need safe, reliable, affordable child care to maintain gainful employment and economic security for their families. This hits families of color particularly hard but also disproportionately impacts rural communities.  

Employers across the state and across political ideologies have named lack of child care a number one priority to address the worker shortage that they are facing. One business owner shared that “supporting the workforce behind the workforce is critical to ensure small businesses are able to attract and retain the staff needed to grow.”

2. Ensuring the Right to Collectively Bargain for Every Worker

As a result of weak labor laws, workers have relied on unions to help them fight for secure and livable wages. Unions don’t just improve working conditions for workers, they also raise the standards in their respective industries. Protecting workers’ rights to organize and collectively negotiate is critical for fostering sustainable wage growth, especially for Black, Brown, Indigenous, and rural communities who are consistently exploited.  

3. Raising the minimum wage to a living wage of $20/hour. 

Workers are the backbone of Wisconsin’s economy, yet they are forced to survive on wages that don’t come close to meeting the cost of living. Child care workers, for example, are essential. Yet it’s one of the lowest paid professions (wages of approximately $13 per hour), and is disproportionately made up of women of color. Wisconsin’s minimum wage is still $7.25/hour—unchanged since 2009 despite enduring a recession and a pandemic. Tipped workers still make as little as $2.33/hour.

4. Criminalizing all wage theft cases and holding greedy employers accountable. 

Low wage workers are struggling to meet basic needs, but, even worse, some are not getting paid at all. From 2021–2023, workers reclaimed $1.6 billion in stolen wages nationwide. In Wisconsin, $200 million is lost annually due to misclassification and payroll fraud. Undocumented workers are more likely to get their wages stolen despite paying nearly $200 million in state taxes per year.

5. Protecting immigrant workers and families by expanding driver licenses to all residents. 

All workers have rights and must be protected, including undocumented immigrant workers, who make up a vital part of our state’s workforce and economy. No one should have to risk family separation when driving to work or taking their kids to the doctor. Ensuring that residents in Wisconsin can get a drivers license is critical.

6. Ending state preemption of local labor laws.

Allow municipalities to raise standards where the state won’t. Local governments like Madison and Milwaukee are legally blocked from passing their own minimum wage laws or wage theft ordinances—even when they face high local cost of living.

As Wisconsin struggles with rising costs on everyday goods and services, disruptive federal policy, attacks on immigrants, and continued hostility towards unions, we demand a new vision from our leaders. 

Wisconsin workers deserve a bold, reimagined economic vision that centers dignity, stability, and the opportunity to thrive. We’re excited to share more over the coming weeks about how we get there! 

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