By John Schmid and Kevin Crowe

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

As employment in Wisconsin's massive manufacturing sector switched into reverse, the state continued to lag the nation in the latest quarterly census of job creation.

Wisconsin added 37,166 private-sector non-farm jobs in the 12 months from March 2015 through March 2016, a tally that includes non-manufacturing as well as manufacturing positions, amounting to a 1.58% increase that ranks the state 33rd among the 50 states in the pace of job creation during that period.

Wisconsin continued to trail the nation, as it has since July 2011. The United States created private-sector jobs at a rate of 2.1% in the latest 12-month period, according to the data released Wednesday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Wisconsin ranked fourth among its Midwest peers, ahead of Minnesota, Illinois and Iowa, but behind Michigan, Indiana and Ohio.

Wednesday's lackluster report was on par for the state. Wisconsin's ranking was unchanged from a revised rank of 33rd in the previous jobs Census released three months earlier, which covered the 12 months of 2015, when Wisconsin also added private-sector jobs at a rate of 1.6%.

Wednesday's report comes two weeks after the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation found that Wisconsin ranked last in the nation for the second year in a row in terms of start-up business activity. The Kauffman report triggered a new round of debate within the state about its slow-growth economy.

The biggest surprise in the latest report, however, involved the crucial manufacturing sector, which still employs nearly a half-million workers in Wisconsin, more than 16% of all state workers.

In the latest 12 months, Wisconsin lost 500 jobs, or 0.1% of employment in the sector. It was a decidedly small decline but reflected broader global trends. A total of 20 states lost manufacturing jobs in the latest 12 months and most had losses deeper than Wisconsin's: Illinois lost 1.1% of its manufacturing employment; Pennsylvania lost 1.7%; Texas lost 4.6%. Nationally, overall manufacturing employment was flat.

Asked why the nation's manufacturing jobs are under pressure, the chief economist at the National Association of Manufacturers trade group singled out the dollar's strong exchange rate, which increases the costs in other nations for made-in-America goods and triggers a decline in American exports.

"Manufacturing leaders continue to grapple with global headwinds stemming from a still-strong U.S. dollar, weakened commodity prices and lingering economic anxieties," said NAM Chief Economist Chad Moutray, based in Washington, D.C.

Factory work in many ways remains the backbone of the Wisconsin economy, employing far more than other sectors such as construction, financial services, health care, hospitality and restaurants. At $67,833, average annual pay in the state's goods-producing sector outstrips the overall state average of $46,858, NAM figures show.

One of the latest manufacturing shutdowns involved Manitowoc Co.'s crawler-crane operations, which will move out of the state and put more than 500 employees out of work by next year. The company, in Manitowoc since 1902, will save up to $30 million a year by leaving.

In Green Bay, Jim Golembeski, executive director of the Bay Area Workforce Development Board, emphasized that the state's manufacturing job loss is minuscule. "I would not call that significant. I'd call it a natural variation."

And what the jobs numbers don’t reflect are the Wisconsin manufacturing employers who are looking for workers but unable to find qualified or willing prospective employees to fill the jobs, said Golembeski, echoing comments heard often on the state's plant floors. “Anecdotally, I have companies telling me they are turning down work,” he said.

Economists consider Wednesday’s job creation figures, known as the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, to be the most credible and comprehensive available. The Census report breaks out data for the nation as a whole as well as each of the 50 states. It tracks the economy in rolling 12-month increments, measured every three months.

The quarterly data are based on a census of 96% of the nation’s employers in the public and private sectors. That makes the figures far more reliable than monthly jobs data, which are based on a sample of only about 3% of employers, leaving monthly estimates prone to large margins of error.

Nationally, employment data has flashed mixed signals. Wednesday's report, for instance, shows weak patches in states that rely on crude oil drilling. A sharp fall in oil prices since last summer has caused oil and gas companies to cut back on extraction. States like Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and North Dakota have seen double-digit percentage declines in employment in the oil-and-gas sector.

In a separate government report Wednesday, the number of job openings nationally climbed to a record in July, rising by the most in six months and sending a signal of strength as the third quarter began, according to a report from the Bloomberg News service.

The number of positions waiting to be filled nationally jumped by 228,000 to 5.87 million, up from 5.64 million in June, according to the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, known as the JOLTS report. An increase in job vacancies and stable hiring point to a healthy labor market at mid-year, following lackluster first-half economic growth, Bloomberg News reported.