The local area economy is experiencing a contraction in economic activity. Employment figures along with other economic indicators in the report strongly suggest that the local area has been adversely impacted by the weak national economic conditions.  Events on and after September 11, 2001 will surely exacerbate the situation. 

     Industrial sector employment is given for Portage County in Table 7. A number of industrial sectors have contracted from a year ago.  Manufacturing, trade, and government payrolls are estimated to be 1.4 percent, 7.8 percent, and 8.2 percent lower than a year ago.  Moreover, construction payrolls are unchanged from September 2000.  The only sector to register an increase was the services sector.  Service sector employment is estimated to have grown by 4.8 percent.  In sum industrial sector employment is thought to have fallen by about 500 positions or by 1.5 percent from last year. 

     Retailer confidence remains weak in the greater Stevens Point - Plover area (Table 8).  Sore traffic and sales are thought to be lower by our panel of local merchants.  When this group was asked to forecast store traffic and sales three months from now as compared to a year ago, they indicated lower levels of retail activity were to be expected.  Clearly the economic condition of the economy, especially after the events of September 11^th has put a damper on their forecast. 

     The CWERB Help Wanted Advertising Index Shows a dramatic change in the amount of job listing in the area (Table 9).  The index fell from 423 to 176 over the past twelve months.  This represents nearly a 60 percent decline from September 2000.  Likewise the national Help Wanted index tumbled from 78 to 53 or a decline of 32 percent.   While Help Wanted Advertising captures only a small part of the number of employment opportunities available in an area, it nonetheless is a good barometer of business firms' hiring plans. 

Public assistance claim data (Table 10) for Portage County shows that the number of new applications on a monthly average basis rose from 370 to 397, an increase of 7.3 percent.  We also see the total caseload figure rising from 2,098 to 2,453 or by nearly 17 percent from a year ago.  Another measure of local family financial distress tells a similar story.  Unemployment claims in Portage County on a weekly average basis climbed from 149 to 181, a gain of 21.5 percent (Table_11).  Total unemployment claims have risen from 779 to 1,058 a gain of 35.8 percent.  Thus, it is quite evident that there has been an increase in area family financial distress. 

     Residential construction in Table 12 paints a mixed picture for the area. The number of residential permits issued declined by 21.3 percent, but the estimated value of this construction is 15.7 percent higher than a year ago.  Likewise the number of permits for residential alteration climbed by 20.2 percent but the estimated value of this activity was only 2.4 percent higher than a year ago.  Lastly, the number of housing units constructed declined over the year from 146 to 122, or about 16.4 percent. 

     Table 13 gives nonresidential construction activity figures for the greater Stevens Point - Plover area.  This volatile activity is presented without percentage change.  The number of permits fell from 14 to 4 and the estimated value declined from $14.3 million to $3.7 million over the course of this year.  The number of business alteration permits rose from 38 in September, 2000 to 48 in September, 2001.  The estimated value of the alteration activity climbed from $3.0 to about $6.1 million over the period.

1.3

June 2001

September 2001