Central Wisconsin is comprised of Portage, Marathon and Wood Counties. This section of the report focuses on the performance of the regional economy. Analysis is based on regional unemployment rates, total employment, employment by sector and key industry and the attitudes of regional business executives. This information is contained in Tables 2-6.

     Unemployment rates throughout Central Wisconsin are down impressively from the year earlier levels (Table 2). The regional unemployment rate stands at 8.5% compared with a March 1984 level of 10.3%. All three counties recorded lower jobless rates with Portage and Wood Counties showing the biggest drops. All figures are seasonally unadjusted.

     Changes in total employment in the region, a more revealing measure of economic performance, are not nearly as encouraging as examination of the unemployment rates would suggest (Table 3). Plagued by financial difficulties at several of the region's more prominent employers and plant closings in the Wausau area, regional employment increased a modest 1.4% since last March. Employment for the state inched up .9%. Wood and Portage Counties recorded gains of 2.5% and 4.5% respectively. Marathon County employment slipped 1.2% from the year earlier total. These figures indicate a slowing regional growth rate.

     For the first time since the regional economy emerged from the 1981-82 recession, employment conditions are deteriorating in a number of important sectors (Table 4). Durable goods manufacturing recorded no gains over the past year. Industries experiencing declines were wood products and machinery production. Payroll declines are evident in the construction and government sectors. All figures are compared to the March 1984 totals.

     The nondurable goods manufacturing and service sectors are essentially unchanged. The only sector which stands well above the March 1984 employment level is trade. Retail trade gains have occurred in all three of the region's counties in the past year.

     Two of Central Wisconsin's key industries have experienced sagging payrolls in the past year (Table 5). Employment is down 2.6% in the financial services industry, while the lumber and wood products industry suffered a 9.8% drop in employment. Financial services employment is depressed by difficulties at the region's two insurance giants. The wood products industry is feeling the effects of a major closure in the Wausau area.

     After failing to generate jobs throughout most of the expansion, the region's important food processing industry gave the economy a needed boost. Employment in food processing stands 9.1% above the year earlier level. Employment in the paper industry, Central Wisconsin's largest employer, remains at the March 1984 level.

     Executives at the region's major firms remain skeptical about the strength of the national and regional economies just as they were in December (Table 6). Business leaders have noticed only modest improvement in national conditions in recent months and expect the economy to improve only slightly in the months ahead. They expressed similar feelings regarding the Central Wisconsin economy. Table 6 is based on a survey taken in mid­ March, prior to the release of first quarter GNP figures.