‘There has been no productivity analysis, no data,’ says lawmaker pushing for return and accountability. |
More than half of the employees in the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development and more than 40% in the Department of Administration still work remotely, five years after COVID sent them home.
Numbers collected by the Badger Institute suggest that as many as half of Wisconsin’s 29,000 state employees do not work at all in a state office and that more than 24,000 work either full- or part-time from home.
Those are only extrapolations. No one — in Gov. Tony Evers’ office, the Department of Administration responsible for tracking the state workforce, or the heads of the state’s nearly three dozen agencies — knows how many state employees work remotely, state Rep. Amanda Nedweski says. |
Study from AEI calculates more than 21,000 new homes a year from permitting economically feasible urban infill |
Concerned that exorbitant housing is out of reach for middle-class families, cities without developable greenfield sites could ease the squeeze by allowing more market-driven urban infill, say scholars at the American Enterprise Institute.
“Why is housing so expensive?” asks Ed Pinto, co-director of the Housing Center at AEI in Washington, D.C. It’s because, he says, costly housing is all that most cities will allow a developer to build, even inside urban areas. The AEI scholars have modeled three options for infill development in Wisconsin urban areas that, they calculate, could mean more than 21,000 new homes per year in the state, all without government subsidies or mandates.
“The point is that you have to allow things that are economically viable,” said Pinto. |
The number of homicides in Milwaukee dropped sharply in 2024 from the previous year and even more from a peak in 2022. But the rate of homicides per 100,000 residents remains over 10 times greater in the city than the last five years’ average rate in the rest of Wisconsin, analysis of FBI and Milwaukee Police Department crime data shows.
Since 2000, the homicide rate for all of Wisconsin except for Milwaukee fluctuated from 0.86 in 2002 to 2.57 in 2021. The average for the five most recent years of data is 2.17. Over the same period, Milwaukee’s rate was as low as 12 in 2008. |
|
|
Allowing more home construction on smaller lots in Wisconsin would substantially drive down prices, according to a new analysis by scholars at the American Enterprise Institute. “What we’re saying is that your biggest opportunity here is to just build at somewhat higher density,” said Ed Pinto, co-director of the AEI Housing Center. |
| |
|
Weekly survey: How much individual income tax revenue did Wisconsin collect in fiscal year 2023-24?
|
|
|
Invest in the Badger Institute |
|
|
|
The Badger Institute has long been at the forefront of the fight for school choice, right to work, welfare reform, tax restructuring, limited government, civil society and so much more. If you appreciate the Institute’s legacy and want to support free markets, opportunity and prosperity, please consider donating today. Your support will help the Institute continue to advocate for conservative principles now and in generations to come.
|
|
|
The Institute never has, and never will, accept government funding. We gratefully welcome your online donation or email Mike Nichols, President. The Badger Institute is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit organization funded solely by the generosity of foundations, companies and individuals. |
|
|
Badger Institute
700 W. Virginia St., Suite 301
Milwaukee, WI 53204 |
|
|
|
