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An executive summary of the results for central
Wisconsin follows. The unemployment rate in central Wisconsin was unchanged
from the 3.7 percent rate from a year ago. Total employment in the region
grew by 1.9 percent. In addition, central Wisconsin nonfarm employment
change shows jobs grew by 1.1 percent. County
sales tax distributions were generally lower than a year ago, with the lone
exception being Portage County. Lastly, regional business leaders are
generally less optimistic about the economic conditions than they were in
second quarter.
Table 2 gives the
seasonally unadjusted unemployment rates for third quarter 2006. Marathon
County’s unemployment rate rose from last year’s marks. However, the rate
is still at a very low level and is hovering around 3.6 percent. Portage
and Wood Counties’ rates actually fell from 3.6 percent to 3.5 percent and
4.3 percent to 4.2 percent respectively over the same period. Overall, the
labor force weighted unemployment rate for central Wisconsin remained
unchanged at a very low 3.7 percent. Unemployment in Wisconsin climbed by
0.1 percent to 4.1 percent. The U.S. rate fell from 4.8 percent to 4.4
percent over the past twelve months.
The state survey of households indicates that
total employment in Portage County is estimated to have expanded by 3.0
percent, or by 1,200 jobs since September 2005 (Table 3).
Marathon and Wood counties’ employment numbers are estimated to have
increased by 500 and 1,200 positions respectively. Thus, total central
Wisconsin employment increased by approximately 3,000 positions. Please
note, due to rounding, the figures in the tables may not sum to the
presented totals. The state added approximately 42.2 thousand new jobs and
the nation generated 2.4 million jobs over the twelve month period.
The state survey of business firms generates
the nonfarm employment figures in
Table 4. Total nonfarm employment in the three county
area expanded by approximately 1,600 positions, which represents a 1.1
percent growth rate. Manufacturing payrolls, however, continue to shrink,
falling from 30.4 thousand to 30.0 thousand or by 1.3 percent. Total
government employment in the three county area is said to have increased by
5.2 percent. A closer inspection of other data shows that the entire
increase of 1,000 government positions in central Wisconsin took place in
Wood County. This seems to be an incorrect estimate and later the state may
have to make a substantial revision.
County sales tax collections in
Table 5 show that Portage County collections rose from
$1,234.9 thousand to $1,272.9 thousand, a gain of 3.1 percent. Marathon
County declined from $3,086.7 to $2,644.8 thousand in our year over
comparison of third quarter activity. To speculate on a matter is
hazardous. With that in mind, it may very well be the large amount of road
construction in and around the Wausau area that is playing a role in the
outcome. Wood County activity dropped from $1,247.6 to $1,169.7 thousand
for a 6.2 percent decline during the same period. Given what happened in
Wood County, some of the decline in Wausau retail activity may be attributed
to a slow down of the economy.
Each quarter the CWERB surveys a group of
business executives to determine their point of view on economic matters (Table
6). When asked to evaluate recent changes at the national level they
said the economy has taken a turn for the worse. They also indicated that
local economic conditions were unchanged from a year ago. When asked to
forecast the future direction of the economy they felt that the national,
local, and their industry conditions would remain unchanged in the next
quarter. |
