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The highlights for the central
Wisconsin section are: unemployment rates were generally lower than last
year‘s figures; only Portage County in the central Wisconsin area experienced
total employment growth; manufacturing continued to be the weak spot in the
area’s employment picture; the retail sector appear to be doing well in spite
of the downturn in manufacturing employment; and lastly business confidence,
while still in the positive range, is generally lower in regard to the future
direction of the economy.
Unemployment rates were almost
uniformly lower this year when compared to 2004 (Table 2).
The only exception was Marathon County where the unemployment rate increased
from 3.2 to 3.5 percent. Portage County’s unemployment rate was 3.4 percent
in September 2005, and Wood County’s rate stood at 4.3 percent during the same
period. Wisconsin’s unemployment rate is down to 4.0 percent and the United
States is down to 4.8 percent. Historically speaking, these are all very low
rates of unemployment.
Total employment is estimated by
the state by conducting a survey of Wisconsin households (Table
3). Portage County total employment is estimated to have risen by 1,300
positions, or by 3.5 percent form last year. Marathon and Wood Counties and
the state of Wisconsin experienced total employment declines of 4.6, 1.8, and
0.3 percent respectively. However, the United States total employment
expanded from 139.6 million to 142.6 million or about 2.1 percent over the
same period.
Table 4
gives the estimates for industrial sector employment in central Wisconsin.
The state of Wisconsin generates these estimates from a survey of business
firms. Total employment has risen from 149.3 to 149.6 thousand. All of this
growth can be attributed to a 400 position gain in Portage County. Wood
County is reported to have lost 100 jobs and Marathon County employment was
unchanged in our year over comparison. As in previous reports it is the
manufacturing sector that accounts for almost all of the job loss in central
Wisconsin. In other words, Wood and Marathon Counties would have registered
employment growth if not for the manufacturing sector.
Retail sector activity is proxied
by the sales tax collection figures in Table 5. Portage
County collections were flat over the past twelve months. However, Marathon
and Wood Counties experienced increases of 9.3 and 2.2 percent respectively.
Thus, the retail sector in Marathon and Wood Counties are holding up even in
the face of declining manufacturing employment.
Business confidence is
given in Table 6. The CWERB survey of area business
people gives us a sense as to what this group is thinking in terms of the
economy. The hurricane activity in the gulf region undoubtedly had an impact
upon this group’s assessment of economic conditions. When asked about
expected changes in the national, local, and industry conditions they
expressed less optimism than last quarter. This is very consistent with the
national consumer confidence survey conducted by the University of Michigan,
which showed a rather sharp drop in consumer confidence. |
