This quarter the Stevens Point regional economy painted an economic picture of sharp contrasts. Bright spots include the low unemployment rate, the expanding total and nonfarm employment payrolls, a rebound in help wanted advertising, and a very strong residential construction scene to mention but a few. Darker and less settling was the news concern public assistance, and unemployment claims. Further, the financial statistics for this quarter were not as strong as what would be expected in a really robust economy.
 

     As mentioned elsewhere in this report there are legitimate questions concerning the nature of the jobs being created locally and nationally. If as alleged in some quarters a significant percentage of the new jobs being created are part time or low paying, then it may not be at all that surprising to find that there has been an increase in the poverty level and at the same time find an increase in total employment.
 

     Portage County nonfarm payrolls grew by an impressive 1250 positions or by 4.2 percent over the past twelve months (Table 7). Each classification rose above their June 1991 figures. Manufacturing, services, trade, construction, and government gained 600, 290, 200, 60 and 100 jobs respectively. Given that this nice expansion took place, it can now be reported that 29,530 people are employed in Portage County in industrial type occupations.
 

     The retailer confidence survey presents a measure of local merchant sentiment concerning the local economy (Table 8). This panel tells the CWERB that total sales and store traffic are higher than last year during second quarter. However, retailer confidence was down somewhat from the March 1992 survey levels. When polled about the future, this group believes that traffic and sales will be more robust than one year ago during the same period. But once again not as much optimism was expressed with regard to the future as last quarter.
 

     Good news comes from the help wanted advertising index (Table 9). The proxy for local labor market conditions rose by 30 points or 13.4 percent to a level of 254. This means that help wanted advertising has increased by about 13 percent and there are 2.54 jobs available for every one job in 1980. The United States index remains at depressed levels with a reading of just 91.
 

     Public assistance shot up from 143 to 193 on a monthly average basis, a 35 percent increase (Table 10). Similarly, the total caseload on a monthly average basis rose from 1371 to 1835 an increase of 33.8 percent. The data in Table 10 clearly demonstrates that a segment of our community, for whatever reason, is having difficulty achieving economic success.
 

     Likewise Table 11 shows a disturbing upward trend in the number of total unemployment claims on a weekly average basis. Here we see that total claims expanded from 114 to 146, an increase of 28.1 percent. The only good news in either Table 10 or 11 is that new unemployment claims have declined by a scant 1 case or 1.8 percent.
 

     A real bright spot for the local area continues to be residential construction (Table 12). All categories save for the number of alteration permits issued were well above the totals established in 1991. Residential permits issued, estimated value of new homes, the number of units, and the estimated value increased by 17, 27, 9, and 35 percent respectively. Low interest rates, the availability of land, a growing suburban population and a healthy local economy have all contributed to this situation.
 

     Nonresidential construction as alluded to in earlier reports tends to be dominated by very large and singular projects. As a result this kind of activity is highly variable from period to period, thus percentage changes are not given in Table 13. In general this quarter's results are in line with those of past periods.
 

     Financial activity in the area is given in Table 14. Bank deposits remained virtually unchanged only rising by 0.1 percent. This measure of local liquidity rose by just $200 thousand from a year ago. Bank lending a measure of local economic activity rose by a similar $200 thousand or about 0.1 percent. In real, inflation adjusted, terns banking lending and deposits failed to keep pace with inflation.