The unemployment rate in all reporting areas was higher than a year ago at the same time.  The sluggish nature of the Central Wisconsin economy is reflected in the results (Table 2).  Specifically, the labor force grew more quickly than the economy was able to create jobs.  In Portage County, the unemployment rate increased from 4.3 percent to 5.1 percent.  Likewise, the unemployment rate increased from 3.5 to 4.0 percent in Marathon County and from 4.6 to 5.9 percent in Wood County.  Similarly, the state of Wisconsin experienced an unemployment rate increase of 3.8 to 4.5 percent.  This mirrors what took place for the nation as a whole.   For the U.S., the unemployment rate rose from 4.2 to 4.7 percent in our year over comparison. 

     Employment growth was minimal throughout the region (Table 3).  Portage and Wood county payrolls are estimated to have expanded 0.8 percent and 1.0 percent over the past twelve months.  Marathon payrolls unfortunately are estimated to have contracted by 0.7 percent.  Central Wisconsin as a whole managed to post a very modest 0.1 percent gain in overall employment.  The total employment estimate for Central Wisconsin increased from 150.6 thousand to just 150.8 thousand over the period.  This performance is slightly better than the state and nation which posted losses of 0.1 and 0.2 percent respectively over the past twelve months. 

     Employment growth difficulties in Central Wisconsin are primarily associated with the manufacturing sector (Table 4).   Manufacturing in the three county area has contracted from 36.5 thousand to 35.3 thousand or 3.3 percent from a year ago.  Durable good manufacturing in particular has been hard hit by current economic conditions falling by an estimated 4.1 percent over the period.  Better news comes form the services sector where a 2.6 percent gain was recorded.  Likewise, trade expanded by 1.2 percent, construction by 1.5 percent, and government by 1.6 percent.

     Another indication of the sluggish nature of the economy comes from the sales tax collection figures for the area (Table 5).  This barometer of the retail sales activity shows a sharp drop off in activity.  Portage county collections are estimated by the state to have fallen by about 23 percent from a year ago.  At the same time Marathon County sales tax collection are reportedly lower by about 16 percent over the period. 

     The Figure 5A and Figure 5B are presented in order to give the reader historic overview as to the how the manufacturing, services, trade, construction, and government sectors have grown over the past five years.  These charts also give some sense as to the magnitude of change and the relative importance of each sector to the Central Wisconsin economy.

     Our survey of area business people shows that there has been an improvement in their assessment of the economic situation ( Table 6).  However, even with this improvement this group's assessment of recent changes at the national and local levels remains less than optimistic.  The group's assessment of the economy, whether it be for the nation, local, or industry level, indicates that they expect an improvement to take place in economic activity by year's end.  Only time will tell if this forecast is correct.

Unemployment Rate
June 2000