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You will note that the article discusses the job loss, not the unemployment rate. The unemployment rate can decline as people drop out of the workforce because they are disillusioned, they retire, or they move elsewhere. From the Wisconsin Budget Project (March 22, 2012): "The irony is that . . . there has been little or no increase in net jobs available in the state. As we noted in a recent Budget Project Blog post, Wisconsin actually lost more jobs than it gained in 2011 – and had the largest decline in any state. In fact, in February 2012, Wisconsin had nearly 17,000 fewer jobs than it did a year previously. However, we started that year with an unemployment rate well below the national average, and it has continued to decline slowly – thanks in part to discouraged workers leaving the workforce (often going back to school) and many public sector employees taking early retirement." http://wisconsinbudgetproject.blogspot.com/2012/03/length-of-unemployment-benefits-to-drop.html