If the mild winter influenced first quarter 1987 results, the impact must have been slight, because second quarter economic activity was as impressive as that of the first period of the year. Evidence to support this supposition is as follows. The unemployment rate has declined substantially. In fact it is at a decade low. Total employment and nonfarm employment are considerably above last year's levels. Retailers have indicated that second quarter sales and store traffic were noticeably better than in June 1986. Public assistance and unemployment claims have contracted from a year ago. Lastly, bank loan activity supports the assertion that the economy was in an expansive mode. The local economy should continue to be vibrant during the remainder of 1987. Besides the favorable variables mentioned elsewhere in the report, the following local data must be taken into consideration. First, several key industries in the area are forecasted to have a strong outlook. Regional business leaders have indicated that there will be a continuation of present economic activities and retail executives assert that store sales and traffic will be better in the future. Also, help wanted advertising, residential and nonresidential construction, and bank deposit data all point toward a vigorous third quarter.

     Marathon County's nonfarm employment is listed by sector in Table 7. Overall, nonfarm employment increased by 1700 positions from a year ago. This translates into a very healthy 3.8% expansion. Manufacturing led all sectors by posting a 10.7% gain. Trade employment also demonstrated improvement with an increase of 500 jobs. Government employment was slightly above the second quarter 1986 level, while the number of people holding service related jobs remained constant. Construction employment was the only sector that experienced a contraction in employment from June 1986. This was due to the mild winter weather which allowed building activities to commence earlier than usual. In summary, second quarter 1987 proved to be a very healthy one for Marathon County.

     The CWERB's retailer confidence index is presented in Table 8. Retailers indicated that store traffic and sales have improved from the previous year. This supports the position that economic activity was expansive during last quarter. Moreover, when asked about expected sales and store traffic, most retailers felt that economic conditions would continue upward.

     Labor demand is measured in Table 9. The help wanted advertising index now stands at 227. This represents a 127% increase from 1980 in the number of jobs listed in the local newspaper. Moreover, the 227 index value represents the highest total ever recorded for Wausau regardless of the time of year. In comparison to last year, there were 24% more positions advertised. Thus we can expect payrolls to continue to grow in the local community.

     Table 10 gives the public assistance claims for the Wausau area. Good news comes from the fact that the total case load is significantly reduced from a year ago. It should be noted that the figure for new applications for public assistance in second quarter 1986 was understated due to the fact that the process for filing claims was changed last year and individuals may not have adjusted to the new circumstances. Furthermore, as can be seen in Table 11, initial and total unemployment claims are much lower than in June 1986. This evidence supports the contention that the economic climate of the Wausau area has improved considerably from last year.