The local area economy experienced somewhat of a slowdown for Third Quarter 1994. The economic indicators were mixed for the report period with some important variables showing deterioration over the past twelve months. In particular, industrial sector employment fell by approximately 2.0 percent from September 1993. Given the local area's vitality over the past eight years it is troubling to see this result. 

     Further, residential construction was sharply off the pace of a year ago. We all knew this activity would have to slow down eventually after so many years of robust activity. Simply stated our population is not growing rapidly enough to indefinitely sustain past levels of building activity. 

     On the brighter side of ledger most all other measures were positive. For example, we found improvement in help wanted advertising, stability in family financial distress, robust activity in nonresidential construction and the area had very healthy financial statistics. 

     Portage county industrial sector employment dipped by 645 positions from last year (Table 7). The number of employed declined from 31,840 to 31,195. Specifically manufacturing, construction and government payrolls contracted by 300, 160 and 200 respectively. Moreover, the sectors of services and trade which have been a strong source of growth over recent years had difficulty as well. Services grew by only 0.1 percent or 15 jobs and trade employment is estimated not to have changed. 

     On a brighter note our survey of area merchants gathered‑some good news concerning the economy (Table 8). Retailers when asked about total sales and store traffic compared to one year ago say that both are noticeably higher than last year during the same time period. However, when asked to forecast future sales and store traffic the local panel said retail activity should improve. However, the level of optimism expressed was lower than the marks recorded for June. 

     More good news comes from the CWERB's help wanted advertising index in Table 9. The Stevens Point index rose from 254 to 284 an 11.8 percent gain from a year ago. Since early 1993 the index has been rising at a rapid pace. Some of this increase can be attributable to businesses outside the region advertising locally in an attempt to locate qualified employees. But nonetheless this increase in the index is welcome news for job seekers located in the local area. 

     Local family financial distress is measured in Table 10 and Table 11. This first measure, public assistance claims, is presented in Table 10. New applications on a monthly average basis jumped by 71 cases or 69.6 percent from last year. Total case load in contrast contracted by 215 cases or 13.2 percent over the same period. The total case‑load figure has been trending steadily downward since early 1992 on a seasonally adjusted basis. 

     Unemployment claim data in Table 11 shows a great deal of stability in the local area in the year over comparison. New claims rose but only from 36 to 38 on a weekly average basis. Similarly, total claims rose from 111 to just 113 on a weekly average basis. However, total claims have been trending upward since early 1991.

     Residential construction in the greater Stevens Point‑Plover area was well off the pace of a year ago (Table 12). The strong building boom of the last number of years has slowed due to the satiation of demand. This outcome is tied to, among other things, slow population growth and rising interest rates. For the record, the number of residential permits issued, their estimated value, the number of residential alteration permits issued, and their estimated value were lower by 50, 51, 46, 3, and 17 percent respectively from 1993.
 

     Nonresidential construction in the local area is displayed in Table 13. As usual no percentage changes are given due to the volatile nature of business capital investment. For the record the number of permits issued reached 10 with an estimated value of $1.5 million. The number of business alteration permits climbed to 50 with an estimated value of $6.1 million. From a historic standpoint the figures for Third Quarter were very respectable for our area.
 

     Financial statistics are shown in Table 14 for Portage county. This sample of local depository institutions tells us that bank deposits rose by $9.9 million or 3.1 percent from a year ago. At the same time bank lending expanded a rapid 11.7 percent or by nearly $32 million. Over the past five years deposits have grown on a seasonally adjusted basis from around $280 million to approximately $330 million. Lending has been the most active of the two series over the past five years rising from about $190 million to near $305 million.