Table 7 Table 8 Table 9 Table 10 Table 11 Table 12 Table 13 Table 14

     There is little doubt that the Wausau-Marathon County economy has expanded from a year ago. The local economy continues to grow rapidly. Virtually every indicator of performance was positive. Whether examining the unemployment rate, total employment, residential construction, etc., a consistent story is told about the area. However, national conditions can and do have a major impact on local matters. Therefore, it is necessary and prudent to keep an eye on national conditions. If the national economy manages to postpone the inevitable next recession for a while longer, there is little reason to believe that the local economy will not continue to expand. This conclusion is based on current, favorable local and regional conditions. Moreover, if the rains return to Central Wisconsin, the agricultural sector should rebound from last year's drought related slump, thus providing a boost to the regional economy.

     Marathon County employment growth continues on an upward path. Table 7 shows that all major industrial sectors had impressive performances. Trade was first in the creation of new jobs with 900 additions. Manufacturing and construction each grew by 700 jobs. Overall nonfarm employment increased by 3100 people or 6.7 percent. This is a remarkable feat for the local economy. Moreover, each industrial sector's employment is at a record level for this time of year.

     Conditions in the retail trade sector give valuable insight into the local economic situation. Table 8 presents the retailer survey for the Wausau area. Information contained in the table suggests that'the local economy has continued to develop over the year. When questioned about current sales and store traffic, the merchants responded that both were noticeably above last year's levels. Expectations are that sales and store traffic will continue to increase in the months ahead.

     Table 9 presents information on local and national labor markets. In the Wausau area the index reached 211 indicating a 211 percent increase in job advertisements since March of 1980. The increase from last year was 5.5 percent, a somewhat slower rate of growth than experienced in recent periods. Moreover, a slowing in job advertisement is taking place at the national level. The index for the nation was unchanged from a year ago, signaling a reduced rate of job creation.

     Local family financial distress data provides insight into another aspect of the local economic environment. Public assistance claims figures in Table 10 show that the total caseload has contracted by nearly 30 percent from last March, but new applications were higher, rising from 21 to 24 cases. Table 11 presents unemployment claims data. Both initial and total claims were substantially lower, by 13.1 percent and 11.0 percent respectively. However, even though the demand for financial assistance has lessened considerably in recent months, some financial distress is unavoidable in a dynamic and changing environment.

     Residential construction, a leading economic indicator, is presented in Table 12. All categories of activity were higher except the estimated value of alterations. The number of residential and alteration permits issued was much above a year ago. Also up substantially were the estimated value of new homes and the number of new housing units. Overall, this was the strongest first quarter performance for residential construction since the CWERB began tracking construction data in the Wausau area. This is a very positive sign for the area economy. New nonresidential construction was generally lower than one year ago. Table 13 lists the results for this type of activity. However, nonresidential alteration work was much above last year. Therefore, the results are mixed.

     Financial statistics for Wausau are given in Table 14. Bank deposits are higher by nearly $20 Million or 3.5 percent. This is a record for the first quarter time period. Lending increased sharply by nearly 11 percent or $45 million. This is an all time high regardless of the time of year. This coincides with national data showing huge amounts of debt being assumed by all major sectors of the economy.