Unemployment rates in most of our reporting areas rose above last year's marks.  Portage, Marathon, and Wood Counties saw their unemployment climb to 2.6, 2.9, and 3.6 percent respectively (Table 2).  The good news is that even though the rates increased they still remain at very low levels.  The Central Wisconsin labor force weighted unemployment rate and the state of Wisconsin experienced a similar situation.  Only the United States mark declined in Third Quarter 2000.

     At the same time that unemployment rates were rising, the total employment figures in the area were increasing (Table 3).  Portage, Marathon, and Wood Counties experienced employment growth of 3.4, 4.4, and 5.1 percent respectively.  Central Wisconsin has added over 6,000 jobs since last year for a very healthy growth rate of 4.3 percent.  The employment growth in our area outpaced the state and nation.  The state is estimated to have added 3.5 percent to its payrolls and the nation only 1.2 percent.  Thus, as of Third Quarter, it does not appear there has been a slow down of activity in this part of the country.

     The industrial sector employment figures in Table 4 also show job growth taking place in the area.  Manufacturing in the three county area rose by 0.6 percent and services increased by a very large 5.5 percent rate.  Trade was also a winner this quarter by the fact that it added nearly 3.0 percent to its operations.   Construction and government payrolls were unchanged from last year's high marks.  There are 7.0 thousand employed in the construction area and about 18.6 thousand in government related jobs.

     Sales tax collection, as shown in Table 5, usually contain three months of data for the quarter.  Collection problems by the state, however, have delayed the completion of the information.  Therefore, the Third Quarter contains only two months worth of data and is not comparable to last year's totals.  It was not possible to make a year over comparison this quarter.  The ability to do this will be restored as soon as possible.

     The Figure 5A and Figure 5B show Central Wisconsin employment trends for the five major industrial sector classifications.  After examining the graphs, it becomes clear that services has become the dominant employer in Central Wisconsin.  This of course follows the national trend in employment patterns.  Perhaps the surprising thing though is how rapidly the domination has taken place.  As a matter of fact it has become the main engine of employment growth in our area.

     The CWERB survey of area business leaders suggests this group is less than neutral in its assessment of recent economic changes at the national and local levels (Table 6).  They were almost equally pessimistic when assessing the economic course of the nation, local area, and their industry.  Clearly the attempts of the Federal Reserve to slow the economy, and rising energy pricing are playing a role in their assessment of the future situation.  Hopefully, this is not a harbinger of things to come.