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The
Central Wisconsin area economy continues to move forward, albeit at very slow
pace. Highlights in this section include: a trend of rising unemployment
rates; total employment growth in the region is outpacing the nation and
state; manufacturing, however, is being hard hit by the current economic
conditions; and regional business people believe the economy is likely to see
very modest growth.
The
unemployment rates in Marathon, Portage, and Wood counties were all higher
than a year ago. However, the unemployment rates still remain at very low
levels. As seen in Table 2, the respective rates for
Marathon, Portage, and Wood were 3.4 percent, 3.4 percent, and 4.2 percent.
The labor force weighted unemployment rate for Central Wisconsin increased
from 3.0 percent to 3.6 percent over the past year. During the same time
period, the unemployment rate for Wisconsin and the U.S. rose to 4.3 percent
and 5.4 percent respectively.
Better
news comes from the total employment figures for Third Quarter. Total
employment has expanded in all reporting areas. As shown in Table
3, employment numbers in Marathon, Portage, and Wood are estimated to have
grown by 2.2 percent, 3.2 percent, and 1.3 percent respectively. Employment in
our three county area is estimated to have grown from 146.8 thousand to 150.0
thousand, or a gain of 2.2 percent. The employment growth in Central Wisconsin
exceeded the 1.8 percent increase of the state and the 0.1 percent rise in
national employment.
Industrial
sector employment for the three county area paints a mixed picture of
employment growth. Manufacturing continues to be the sector that has been most
affected by the nation's economic difficulties. However, as seen in Table
4 the services sector and trade sector managed to add 0.9 percent and 6.8
percent respectively to their payrolls. Even though construction activity has
been good in the area, the number of people employed in this activity declined
from a year ago. Government employment was virtually unchanged from 2001,
rising by only 0.5 percent.
Sales
tax data is a good barometer of retail activity. For this quarter Portage
county sales tax collections are estimated to have risen from $1.13 million to
$1.14 million. As shown in Table 5, the gain amounts to
a small 0.7 percent change from a year ago. In Marathon county, the sales tax
collections are estimated to have grown from $2.59 million to $2.61 million or
a gain of just 1.1 percent. The data from Portage and Marathon counties suggest
that retail activity is virtually unchanged from a year ago.
Business confidence levels in the area are virtually unchanged from last
quarter figures (Table 6). The marks for September
suggest the perception about recent events at the national and local levels
have not changed all that much. In other words they perceive that matters are
about the same. When the group was asked about the future prospects for the
economy they tended to respond with cautious optimism, believing that
conditions would improve slightly at the national, state, and industry level.
It would be good news for the area if this forecast came to fruition. |
