|
The highlights of the central
Wisconsin section of the report
are as follows. Unemployment rates were generally higher than twelve months
ago and employment in the three-county area was at about the same level as in
2005. The manufacturing sector continues to be a drag on the employment
numbers, declining by 1,000 positions over the past twelve months. The sales
tax collection numbers suggest that retail activity is doing well in central
Wisconsin. Lastly, business leaders indicate that economic growth has been
modest over the year.
The seasonally unadjusted unemployment rates
rose over the past twelve months in
Portage and Marathon counties (Table
2). The rate for Portage was at 6.0 percent and for Marathon 5.3 percent during March 2006, compared to 5.6 percent and 5.0 percent
respectively in March 2005. Wood County, although still having
the highest unemployment rate in the three-county area, did experience a
decline in its rate, 7.1 percent to 6.5 percent over the course of the year.
The unemployment rate for Wisconsin was virtually unchanged during the year.
The U.S. unemployment rate, however, declined from 5.4 percent to 4.8
percent.
Total employment estimates are based on a
government survey of households. Table 3 shows that
total employment fell in Portage and
Wood counties by 1.4 percent and 0.1 percent respectively. Marathon payrolls, however, expanded by almost 2.0 percent over the past twelve
months. Wisconsin added about 20,000
jobs or 0.8 percent to its payrolls. Meanwhile, the number of jobs in the
U.S. grew at a more robust 2.2 percent.
Industrial sector employment is given in
Table 4 for central
Wisconsin and is estimated by the state by
conducting a survey of area employers. Total industrial sector employment
grew by a scant 0.1 percent or by 100 net new positions. Manufacturing once
again experienced the greatest amount of contraction, declining by 1,000
positions in the three-county area since 2005. Leisure and hospitality, in
contrast, experienced the largest gain by posting a 700 net job increase, a
7.0 percent rate of growth.
An excellent barometer of retail activity is
sales tax collections and distributions.
Portage
County experienced a substantial gain in sales tax collections, up by nearly
15 percent from a year ago (Table 5). Likewise,
Marathon
County experienced a very healthy expansion in retail activity by posting a
gain of over 9 percent. Wood County sales tax collections
grew at a more modest 1.2 percent over the same period. Overall, there was a
substantial increase in the level of shopping in the three-county area.
The CWERB does a quarterly survey of regional
business leaders in central Wisconsin
(Table 6). When asked about recent changes, this group
felt that the local and national economies were slightly stronger than last
year. When we asked them to focus on the future, this group expected that the
local and national economies would continue to strengthen, albeit at a modest
pace, over the next several quarters. Thus, steady modest growth seems to be
the consensus forecast for this group. |
