Economic growth in the central Wisconsin region has slowed markedly in recent months. Evidence of a declining growth rate in Marathon, Wood and Portage Counties is revealed in Tables 2.6. These tables contain information on regional unemployment rates, total employment, employment by sector and key industry and the attitudes of central Wisconsin business executives.

     The central Wisconsin unemployment rate stands 1% below the June 1984 level    (Table 2). All three Counties posted declines over their respective year earlier figures. The Wood County unemployment rate showed the biggest drop in the region, falling from 8.0% to 6.5%. The Marathon County rate inched down .3% from the previous June reading. These figures stack up well against the national performance. The seasonally unadjusted U.S. unemployment rate for June was 7.5%, .1 % above the June 1984 level. The Wisconsin unemployment rate is below both the central Wisconsin rate and the national average.

     Following the pattern of recent quarters, regional and state employment gains are much less impressive than the unemployment rate would suggest. Employment in central Wisconsin is .4% below the June 1984 figure. This slight decline, the first year to year drop recorded since the economic expansion began in 1983, occurred in spite of a substantial revision in the 1984 regional employment estimates. Only Portage County recorded employ­ment gains over last year (1.9%). Marathon County payrolls dropped 2.2%. Wood County and the state showed no change when rounded to the nearest one hundred.

     The employment figures are the most convincing evidence that regional economic growth has come to a near standstill. Central Wisconsin, similar to the nation as a whole, is experiencing a period of negligible improvement. This period cannot be called a recession because there is some evidence of expanding economic activity. However the signs of economic growth in the region are becoming increasingly faint.

     Data on employment by sector in central Wisconsin reveals further evidence of a flat regional economy (Table 4). Surprisingly, the manufacturing sector, hard pressed na­tionally, posted modest employment gains. Nondurable goods manufacturing industries showed the largest payroll increases (+4.1 %). Small increases were reported in most sectors. Services employment inched up 1.3%, while government payrolls expanded 2.8%. The trade sector, which had posted the strongest employment gain in recent quarters, increased a min­iscule 1.3%. Only the volatile construction industry recorded fewer jobs than one year ago.

    The source of strength in the nondurable goods manufacturing sector can be found by examining employmel11t trends in central Wisconsin's key industries (Table 5). The food processing industry is up 500 jobs over the June 1984 level. This translates into a whopping 14.3% increase in payrolls. However, this figure is greatly inflated by the region's early spring. Central Wisconsin's other key industries have shown little or no gain over last year. The lumber and wood products industries have reduced payrolls by 8.7% since last June.

    Central Wisconsin executives detected deterioration in regional economic conditions during the second quarter (Table 6). The business confidence index for recent local conditions dropped from 52 in March to a June level of 42. A reading of less than 50 indicates that executives observed declining conditions. However, business leaders expect modest improvement both regionally and nationally in the months ahead. Executives are most confident of the outlook for their respective industries.