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The Central Wisconsin economy was stuck in low gear during Third Quarter 1994.
In Portage county the economic results were most disturbing with total and
industrial sector employment both declining from a year ago. However, activity
in Marathon and Wood county helped to offset the situation for the
region. Marathon and
Wood county expanded by 2200 and 500 jobs respectively since last year.
Industrial sector employment for
Central Wisconsin edged forward and expanded by 1.3 percent or nearly
1700 jobs from September 1993. However, key area industries suffered a
contraction in their payrolls of approximately 300 positions from last year or
1.0 percent. Additionally, regional business executives while still optimistic
about the future are less so now than in Second Quarter 1994.
Unemployment rate data are presented in Table 2. The
unemployment rates in the three county area are at very low levels. Portage,
Marathon and Wood counties had rates of 3.6, 4.3 and 3.4 percent respectively on
a seasonally unadjusted basis. The labor force weighted rate for
Central Wisconsin remained unchanged from last year at a low 3.9
percent. The state unemployment picture was also quite good only with a 3.9
percent rate. Even the
U.S. rate is falling signaling a revival and stronger national economic
situation than the year before.
The employment situation in our region is shown in Table 3.
Employment increased by an estimated 2200 in
Marathon county and by 500 in Wood county representing growth rates
of 3.5 and 1.3 percent. In contrast, and something that did not happen over the
past four years, employment in
Portage county fell by 300
positions or 0.8 percent over the year. Regional employment expanded from 137.4
to 139.8 thousand positions a 1.7 percent rate of change. Thus, the region
trailed the state and nation as they each expanded by 3.5 percent.
Table 4 gives Central Wisconsin employment change by
sector. As usual the service and trade sectors had the most employment growth
adding 2290 and 400 jobs respectively. Also, on the plus side of the ledger was
the 160 person gain in the government sector. In contrast the manufacturing and
the construction sectors posted losses of 600 and 560 in their payrolls. Overall
industrial sector employment in the three county area expanded by a scant 1.3
percent to 130,320 positions.
Key sector employment is presented in Table 5. Lumber and
wood products and finance, insurance, and real estate posted respectable gains
of 3.6 and 3.7 percent from last year. However, paper products and food
processing were off the pace of a year ago falling by 0.8 and 12.9 percent
respectively. Overall, our key exporting industries lost 290 positions with
employment contracting from 31,040 to 30,750 over the year. Again this is a very
rare occurrence and should be viewed with some concern.
Regional business executives were surveyed in regard to economic conditions and
their opinions on the subject are presented in Table 6.
The panel holds the collective view that recent changes at the national and
local levels have been mildly positive in nature. They also feel and expect that
national conditions will not change much in the next six months. This group,
however, is slightly more upbeat with regard to condition changes in the local
economy and even more so when it comes to their particular industry. However,
their assessment of the future is less optimistic than in June of this year. |
