Central Wisconsin's economic indicators are mixed this time around. The following examples support this conclusion. Employment in the area is up only slightly from a year ago. One county actually had a decrease in employment. The overall unemployment rate in the Central Wisconsin region rose, although the individual rate for one county actually declined. Industrial sector employment contained two sectors in which employment contracted and three sectors which experienced increased employment. Likewise, two of the regions key industries had expanding payrolls end two showed declining employment numbers. Finally, the level of optimism expressed by regional business leaders was well off the pace of last quarter's report, but four of the five categories had readings above 50, which indicates stability in the local situation.
 

     The seasonally unadjusted unemployment rates for Central Wisconsin are presented in Table 2. The unemployment rates for the three counties traveled on different paths this quarter. The Portage County rate remained unchanged at 6.4 percent. In Marathon County the unemployment rate rose from 5.2 to 5.4 percent, and Wood County's rate fell from 6.4 to 5.8 percent. Overall, the labor force weighted unemployment rate for the region rose from 5.7 to 5.8 percent over the year.

     Table 3 shows the differences in employment growth among the three counties of Central Wisconsin. Portage and Wood County employment rose by 1.8 and 1.6 percent respectively in a year over comparison. However, Marathon County employment fell from 64.3 to 63.9 thousand, a small drop of 0.6 percent. In sum, the region, as a whole, gained just 800 jobs for an increase of 0.6 percent. This was similar to the situation at the state level where the number of jobs grew by only 0.8 percent.

     Industrial sector employment presented in Table 4 indicates that Central Wisconsin's manufacturing and government sectors contracted from a year ago. Employment fell by 400 and 500 positions respectively. However, the services, trade, and construction sectors all posted reasonable levels of growth, 1000, 1100, and 400 respectively in the three county area of Central Wisconsin. Over the years the service and trade sectors have become an ever larger portion of the economy's job base.

     Key industries for the Central Wisconsin area are listed in Table 5. Both paper products and food processing payrolls declined from June 1992; paper products by 100 and food processing by 300. The unusually wet weather of spring and early summer 1993 has had a negative impact on the latter. On the brighter side of the ledger, lumber and wood products expanded by 100 jobs and finance, insurance, and real estate by 800.

     The confidence levels of regional business executives are listed in Table 6. The confidence levels of this group have fallen, in some cases significantly, from last quarter. Recent changes at the national level were rated at a relatively low 48 down from 68 last quarter, and recent changes locally are deemed to be about the same as last quarter, 51 versus 55. When asked to forecast future economic conditions, this group, while mildly positive, is much less upbeat than last quarter. Expected changes in economic conditions nationally, locally, and in the respective individual industries stood at 53, 57, and 59 compared to 61, 60, and 67 in March of this year. Concern over pending major legislation in Washington has played a large role in this quarter's results.