Creating a self-funding incentive program to attract people to Wisconsin is the “only way” to offset demographic challenges in the years to come, economist Dale Knapp argues.
Knapp, who leads the Wisconsin Counties Association’s Forward Analytics research division, spoke yesterday during the 2025 Wisconsin Economic Forecast Luncheon. The Madison event was hosted by WisPolitics, WisBusiness.com and the Wisconsin Bankers Association.
Much of Knapp’s remarks were focused on the problems posed by the state’s demographic shift, as the large Baby Boomer generation continues to age out of the workforce and subsequent generations are putting pressure on the state’s labor pool due to their smaller size.
While he said “we’re not going to get out of these challenges” entirely, Knapp proposed using a chunk of the state’s projected $4 billion surplus to mitigate their impact.
He’s calling for putting $300 million of the surplus and putting it into a dedicated attraction fund, with $50 million of that going toward an advertising campaign to spread the word about Wisconsin and its quality of life. Meanwhile, the fund could support a $16,000 incentive for those willing to move to the state, he suggested.
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