MADISON, Wis. -- When it comes to Wisconsin families' pocketbooks, the news isn't good, according to a new study by a University of Wisconsin-Madison think tank.

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While the country is in the midst of several serious economic issues, the study by the non-profit Center on Wisconsin Strategy found that the average Wisconsin families have been hit hard by rising prices and massive job cuts.

On Monday, Sun Prairie father James Peschl was spending the Labor Day holiday with his stepdaughter, fishing at a Madison creek. He works sales in the construction industry and he said that a big increase in home remodeling has helped maintain his income in light of the national housing slump.

Still, Peschl said that, like so many other families, his has been forced to cut back.

"I had to trade in the SUV to get a smaller car, and then also with the rising gas prices and everything, it eats up a little of all the extra money," he said.

The economic pinch that the Peschls are feeling is being felt statewide -- from the pending shutdown of Janesville General Motors plant to the loss of companies like Famous Footwear in the Madison area, WISC-TV reported.

The UW study said that average families in the state continue to get pummeled by national economic issues and local job losses.

The State of Working Wisconsin 2008 report said that 24,000 jobs have been lost since June 2008, 13,000 of them from the manufacturing sector. Unemployment is to up to 5 percent, which is exceeding the national rate. The state median wage, adjusted for inflation, is only 57 cents higher than it was in 1979 -- $15.17 an hour.

As for the average per capita income, it's $2500 lower than the national average, according to the study.

Laura Dresser, the Center On Wisconsin Strategy study's author, said that she has never seen the kind of numbers like the ones found in the study.

"I've done this report six times in 12 years and I think this is the first time I've seen so much, so consistently bad news across wages and jobs and income," Dresser said.

For working families, it's not exactly appetizing news. Peschl said that these findings have to be addressed by the next president, whoever it is.

"I think it'll have to," he said. "I think everyone's really scared right now to see what'll happen, who's going to get in office, but either way, you know it's going to have to change."

Dresser said that she believes it appears the state is slipping into another recession before it recovers from the last. In fact, she said that when adjusted for inflation, the median family of four's annual income level is still $6,000 behind what it was in 2000, which is right before the last recession. That number is twice the national gap, according to the study.

Stay tuned to WISC-TV and Channel 3000 for continuing coverage.