The Central Wisconsin economy experienced much growth over the preceding twelve months. Clearly the surprising strength of the national economy during Second Quarter 1996 added momentum to our local situation. Our seasonally unadjusted unemployment rates plunged in the three‑county area while payrolls rose dramatically. Further, regional business executives believe that their firms will be expanding at a decent pace for the remainder of the year.
 

     Unemployment rates took a sharp tumble over the course of the year (Table 2). Strong job growth across the United States and here at home helped to push rates to 25‑year lows. Table 2 indicates that the unemployment rate for Marathon. Portage and Wood counties stood at 3.8, 4.5 and 3.8 percent respectively. These rates are well below the 5.3 percent which was recorded for the nation.
 

     The economy of the nation has been surprisingly robust. The vast majority of analysts did not foresee the strong rebound in activity which took place in the Second Quarter of 1996. This late spurt helped to push employment growth for the year into the stratosphere (Table 3). Central Wisconsin gained approximately 9,700 jobs from June of last year. This represents a very strong 6.8 percent amount of job growth. The job expansion experienced locally exceeded the rate of increase for the state and nation.
 

     Table 4 gives a breakdown of this job growth for our Central Wisconsin industrial sectors. Job creation was spread among all the industrial sectors, except for construction. The increase in demand for goods and services produced in our area translated into gains of 900 for manufacturing, a higher paying category, and 1,000. positions in the services category.
 

     Figure 5A and Figure 5B depict employment movements in Central Wisconsin's major industrial sectors over the past four years. This quarters report will focus on manufacturing. Manufacturing has increased over the period from 32.5 to 34.0 thousand. A closer examination of the data indicates that nondurable goods manufacturing employment has grown very slowly over this period. Most of the increase in the manufacturing category has come in the form of increases in durable goods manufacturing. Furthermore, Second Quarter 1998 reflects this trend as durable goods manufacturing outpaced nondurable goods production. Nondurables are items that have an expected useful life of less than three years.
 

     Surveys of business people are a useful way to gain insight into the local economy (Table 6). Our local people believe that the national economy is slightly better than one year ago. At the same time, their beliefs concerning the future can be summarized as being cautiously optimistic. This holds true especially for their particular industry. Given that these individuals know more about their own businesses than anyone else, this is encouraging news for the regional economy.