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The
economic indicators for Marshfield-Wood County suggest that the area economy has
slowed down from the pace of earlier periods.
Most of the indicators in this section of the report are less positive
than what they were twelve months ago. Thus,
it appears the slowdown in economic activities locally corresponds to what is
happening to the country as a whole.
Employment
growth was hard to come by in the industrial sectors listed in Table 7. Manufacturing, trade, and government payrolls either
contracted or remained unchanged since December 1999.
Services and construction, however, managed to expand their operations.
Overall, the five sectors in Table 7 managed to squeak out a 0.5 percent
increase in positions. Marshfield's
employment index increased by 1.9 percent.
This suggests that Marshfield area grew more rapidly than the rest of the
county. This outcome was predicated
on the fact that Marshfield is dominated to a greater degree by the services
sector than Wood County as a whole.
The
CWERB poll of local merchants presents some very interesting results for
December (Table
8). This group believes that store traffic and sales were
noticeably lower than a year ago. The
marks for traffic and sales were quite pessimistic in nature. These merchants forecast that store traffic and sales will be
lower in the First Quarter 2001 relative to the levels registered in the First
Quarter 2000. In sum, the merchant
confidence survey suggests that retail matters may be moving more slowly than in
previous quarters.
Help
wanted advertising declined in the Marshfield area
(Table 9).
This barometer of local labor market conditions contracted from 212 to
180, which is a 15 percent decline in advertising.
This signals that local and state employers have scaled back their hiring
plans in late 2000. This
corresponds to the decline of the U.S. help wanted advertising index.
The national index fell from 85 to 79, or by about 8 percent.
Other
possible signs that the area economy may be slowing down come from
Table 10 and Table 11. Public assistance claims on a
monthly average basis for the county increased from 2,501 to 2,676, which is an
increase of 7.0 percent. Similarly,
unemployment claims in Wood County have increased over the course of the year.
New unemployment claims rose from 88 to 116 a gain of 31.8 percent.
Total claims on a weekly average basis also increased in the county.
Total unemployment claims climbed from 242 to 289, or 19.4 percent.
Another
sign that the area economy may be cooling down comes from the residential
construction figures (Table12). The number of
new permits declined by 23.8 percent and their estimated value likewise declined
by 7.1 percent. The number of
housing units fell from a year ago, falling from 27 to 21 starts.
The number of residential alteration permits was about the same as a year
ago declining from 25 to 23. However,
the estimated value of this year's alteration activity contracted by 34.8
percent in our year over comparison.
Even
though nonresidential construction activity is presented without percentage
change, it is clear this type of activity was markedly lower in the Fourth
Quarter of 2000 as compared to Fourth Quarter 1999
(Table 13).
The number of permits issued was 8 and their estimated value was $641.9
thousand. Moreover, the number of
alteration permits was 9 with an estimated value of $372.6 thousand.
The
sample of area financial institutions shows that bank deposits grew from $191.3
million to $193.6 million or 1.3 percent from last year
(Table 14).
Bank loans also edged higher increasing from $169.0 million to $173.5
million, which represents a gain of 2.7 percent.
Clark
County data is presented in Table 15 and
Table 16.
Highlights from the tables are as follows. Manufacturing, construction, and government payrolls were
higher than a year ago. However,
total employment increased by a scant 0.4 percent.
Moreover, the unemployment rate rose from 4.4 to 5.8 percent over the
past twelve months and the number of unemployed increased from 608 to 906. |
