The Marshfield area economy continued on an upward path. There is much evidence to support this assertion. Employment in Marshfield is estimated to be 5 percent higher than a year ago. Employment in Wood County grew by a surprising 2,600. Another aspect to consider is the unemployment rate, which is considerably below last year's mark. Recent developments at the national level suggest that the U.S. economy is slowing down. Some local variables such as residential construction and help wanted advertising give an indication that local matters may be slowing. Only time will tell if this will actually be the case. Furthermore, since the national economy can greatly influence local matters, it would be imprudent to ignore the developing situation, even if it does turn out to be a false alarm. Lastly, a substantial boost to the local economy would occur if spring and summer rains return to their normal patterns. This would help the agribusiness sector rebound from the drought related difficulties of 1988.

     Table 7 presents major industrial sector employment for Wood County. The greatest expansion occurred in service sector employment with over 1000 new jobs being created. Manufacturing employment expanded by 400 positions even with the plant closings in Wisconsin Rapids. Trade contributed to the general improvement by posting a gain of 3.6 percent. Construction and government employment were unchanged from a year ago. Overall, nonfarm employment shot upwards by nearly 5.0 percent, a very impressive performance. The Central Wisconsin Economic Research Bureau estimates that payrolls have expanded by approximately 5.0 percent in the Marshfield area.

     Retail conditions give valuable insight into the overall well-being of an economy. The CWERB conducts a survey of local merchants to gather such information. Table 8 shows that, when asked about the current situation, this group felt that store traffic and sales were noticeably improved from last year. As for the future, this group believes that matters will be accelerating in the months ahead. Readings of 70 were recorded for both expected store traffic and expected sales three months from now.

     Help wanted advertising for Marshfield is given in Table 9. The data indicate a slowdown in the growth of job advertising. Almost no change was recorded from a year ago. A parallel situation exists at the national level, i.e. no change. This result often signals a cooling down of the economy. The implication is that payroll growth may be harder to achieve.

     Family financial distress is measured in Tables 10 and 11. The news is very upbeat for the local community. Public assistance claims both new and total are lower than a year ago. New applications dropped from a monthly average of 38 to 33. Furthermore, the average monthly total caseload contracted from 701 to 623. A similar situation characterizes unemployment claims. Initial claims were down by nearly 19 percent and total claims were lower by 15 percent. This is strong evidence that the Marshfied area economy has performed very well during the past 12 months.

     Residential construction is a leading economic indicator. Table 12 shows that higher interest rates and lower consumer demand have taken a toll on construction

     The same sluggishness can be observed at the national level. Residential construction around the Marshfield area was lower in almost all categories. Only the estimated value of new structures was higher by a scant 0.2 percent. Residential permits issued, the number of housing units, alteration permits issued and the value of alterations were down from a year ago. Moreover, the totals were low when contrasted with historic norms.

     Nonresidential data are highly volatile due to the unique and singular nature of the activity. Table 13 presents this quarter's results. The number of permits issued fell from 3 to 1, but the the number of business alteration permits jumped from 11 to 18 and the estimated value of the alterations nearly doubled last year's total.

     Financial statistics in Table 14 indicate that local deposits climbed by nearly $8 million or a respectable 4.1 percent from 1988. Moreover, lending activity was higher by $11 million or 8.3 percent. This would indicate that spending in the Marshfield area increased substantially. Thus these data strongly suggest that the local economy continued its advancement.

     Tables 15 and 16 present economic data on Clark County. This information is provided because of the close economic ties between Clark County and the Marshfield area.