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The Marshfield‑Wood County economy expanded from
last year at a modest pace. Total employment in the county was up by 2.9
percent, and industrial sector employment rose by 0.8 percent. However, the
unemployment rate soared to 9.9 percent. This surge in the unemployment rate was
caused by an unexplained jump in the size of the labor force. Simply stated,
there was no way that the local economy could possibly absorb all of these
additional workers. It remains to be seen if this unexpected and unexplained
rise in the labor force will be revised downward in the future. Thus, the
increase in the unemployment rate does not signal a decline in the number of
people who are working. Other measures such as the retailer survey, the help
wanted advertising index, and financial statistics were positive for the area,
lending belief to the assertion that the economy grew during the course of the
year.
Industrial sector employment was stable in
Wood County over the
year when measured from third
quarter to third
quarter. In 1991 the number of people employed stood at 40,960, in 1992 the
number reached 41,280, a gain of 320 or 0.8 percent. Also,
Table 7 shows that the 320 worker gain was distributed among the services,
trade, and construction sectors with services gaining 200, trade 100, and
construction 20. Manufacturing and government payrolls were unchanged from last
year. The CWERB employment index for Marshfield estimates that industrial sector
employment was unchanged from last year.
The merchants on our
Marshfield
area panel believe that sales and store traffic were higher than the year before
(Table 8). Further, the optimism level for sales was
higher than in the summer. Concerning the future, the merchants forecast a
stronger Christmas buying season than last year. The forecasted index values for
store sales and traffic were in the sixties, which signifies an optimistic
outlook on the part of retailers.
The help wanted advertising index for
Marshfield presented in
Table 9 captures only a small percentage of the job
openings and it does not measure the number of high versus low-paying jobs
available in the area. Nonetheless, it is a good barometer for local labor
market conditions. There are approximately 2.1 jobs being advertised for every
one job advertised in 1980. The Marshfield index was five points higher than a
year ago, while the nation continues to be mired in economically difficult
times. This is reflected in the national help wanted advertising index which is
stuck at a very low level.
Table 10 presents data on
public assistance claims in the
Marshfield area. New
applications on a monthly average basis rose slightly from 38 to 39 from last
year. Historically over the period 1987 to 1992 the number of third quarter new
public assistance claims has been 30 in 1987,30 in 1988, 30 in 1989, 30 in 1990,
38 in 1991, and finally 39 in 1992. Thus, a rise in this series is noticeable
over the past two years. Total applications for public assistance during the
same time period were 721 in 1987, 721 in 1988, 598 in 1989, 586 in 1990, 608 in
1991, and 784 in 1992, paralleling the upward trend in new applications.
Table 11 presents
unemployment claims data on a weekly average basis for
Wood County. New
claims filed fell from 37 to 33 or 11.6 percent. Over the six reporting periods
from 1987 to 1992, new claims for third quarter were 30, 26, 33, 38, 37, and 33
respectively. Thus this series has remained quite stable over the period. When
it comes to the six year trend in total third quarter unemployment claims in
Wood County, we have 55 in 1987, 53 in 1988, 71 in 1989, 71 in 1990, 104 in
1991, and 92 in 1992, indicating a decline from last year's reporting period.
But, overall, an upward trend in this measure of local family distress is
evident.
Construction activity in the
Marshfield area is presented in
Table 12. Residential construction was off from the hot
pace of last year. That burst of activity would have been hard to maintain given
such limiting factors as immigration and population growth. Each category of
activity was below last year's marks. The number of new residential permits
issued was 16, the estimated value of new construction was $1670 thousand, the
number of new housing units was 18, residential alteration permits issued
numbered 50, and their estimated value was $225 thousand. Although these numbers
were lower than their 1991 counterparts, they still represent a significant
amount of activity for the area.
Nonresidential construction for
Marshfield is displayed in
Table 13. The number of nonresidential permits issued was
20 with an estimated value of $2089 thousand. The number of business alteration
permits reached 11 totaling $1340 thousand. Thus, business and governmental
units added to the local capital stock.
Financial statistics for the
Marshfield area are given in
Table 14. Bank deposits grew from $220.1 to $229.9
million from a year ago. This is a respectable gain of $9.8 million or 4.4
percent. With regard to lending, loans have increased by about $1.0 million or
0.6 percent. The amount of lending is probably understated to the extent that
lenders have sold loans to the secondary market in order to replenish their
lending capacity.
Table 15 and
Table 16 present data for the
Clark County area. 'Me data is
provided because Clark County represents an important market area for Marshfield
businesses. |
