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The
Marshfield
area economy expanded at a modest pace during second quarter
1994. For example, employment grew by only 0.3 percent in
Wood
County.
However, industrial sector payrolls gained 2.0 percent in Wood
County and a similar rate of growth was estimated to have taken
place in Marshfield. The really good news this quarter is the
unemployment rate fell from 6.1 to 4.8 percent over the course
of the year. In addition, retailer confidence was quite strong
for the period and help wanted advertising expanded by nearly 10
percent.
Moreover, the local economy experienced a
decline in both new and total unemployment claim data.
Residential construction activity surpassed the levels of second
quarter 1993. Lastly, financial statistics were strong in both
the lending and deposits categories, giving further evidence the
local economy rests on solid footing.
Industrial sector employment for
Wood County in
Table 7 shows that services, construction
and government payrolls rose by 700, 20 and 300 respectively.
Manufacturing and trade, however, were off the pace of last year
with each contracting by 100 jobs. On net, Wood County
employment expanded from 40,300 to 41,120, a decent 2.0 percent
gain from last year. Similarly the CWERB estimates, through the
use of its Marshfield Employment Index, that Marshfield area
employment grew by 2.0 percent.
Local merchants tell the CWERB that store
traffic and especially store sales are much above last year's
levels (Table 8). This bodes well for
local economic conditions. With regard to the future, this panel
holds the collective opinion that sales and store traffic will
be much improved three months from now compared to 1993.
Merchant optimism, after bottoming out in early 1991, has been
steadily increasing in the
Marshfield
area. Also this group's assessment of sales and traffic has been
trending sharply upward since mid‑1991 and now stands at a
seasonally adjusted record high.
The results of the Help Wanted Advertising Index
are displayed in Table 9. The results
indicate an approximate 10 percent gain in the listing of jobs
has taken place since last year. The index has been trending
dramatically upward since third quarter 1992. Further, the 296
mark in June indicates there are nearly three jobs being
advertised for every one job listed in 1980. Likewise the
national index shows that the country's economy is coming to
life, when it expanded by about 22 percent.
Table 10 and
Table 11 present our measures of local
family financial distress. Public assistance claims on a monthly
average basis increased by just two cases from 35 to 37. Total
caseload figures were unavailable for second quarter 1994 due to
a computer system change over at the state level. Total caseload
figures will eventually become available and will be included in
future quarterly reports.
Good news comes in Table 11 because new and
total unemployment claims were lower than last year. New claims
fell from 50 to 39, a 22 percent decline, and total claims on a
weekly average basis dropped from 123 to 87, a 29 percent
contraction. Please note, total claims have been trending
steadily downward since late 1991.
More positive news is reported in
Table 12. Residential construction was
above last year's activity level. Permits issued, their declared
value, number of housing units, alteration permits and their
estimated value were higher by approximately 25, 1, 18, 25 and
50 percent. These numbers bode well for the local area economy
as construction activity involves the usage of so many different
kinds of goods and services.
Nonresidential
construction figures are displayed in Table
13. The number of permits issued was 19 during second
quarter with an estimated value of $1.5 million. During the same
period alteration permits totaled 13 and were estimated to have
a value of $895 thousand. Percentage changes are not given in
this table due to the great volatility of business investment.
Financial statistics in Table
14 paint a favorable picture of the area's economic health.
Bank deposits expanded from $221.1 to $229.4 million, an $8.3
million gain, or by nearly 4.0 percent since last year. Bank
lending jumped from $171.0 to $193.1 million. The increase of
$22.1 million represent a rather robust 12.9 percent rate of
growth since 1993.
Table 15 and Table 16
present economic statistics for Clark County. These data are
presented because Clark County is an important market area for
Marshfield area businesses. |
