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Highlights
of this quarter's reports are as follows. Industrial sector employment in the
area is marginally higher than a year ago. Merchants remain optimistic in their
assessment of retail activity. Help wanted advertisement continues to decline in
the area. Total unemployment claim data suggests that there has been an increase
in the number of people laid-off. Finally, construction activity while declining
in some categories remains at high levels.
Industrial
sector employment grew by 1.3 percent from last year (Table_7).
Specifically trade and services expanded by 10.6 percent and 0.9 percent over
the past twelve months. However, these gains were offset to some degree by
contractions in the manufacturing and construction sectors. Employment was
estimated to have declined by 2.2 percent and 23.5 percent respectively. In
addition government employment was unchanged over the period staying at 8.1
thousand.
The
CWERB's retailer confidence survey is presented in Table 8.
The survey indicates that local merchants were enthusiastic in their assessment
of store traffic and sales during this past Christmas selling season. This group
was also very upbeat with regard to future store traffic and sales. The results
of this poll suggest that local retailers had a better selling period than what
took place at the national level. It is believed that retail activity at the
national level was weak during the Christmas period.
Help
wanted advertising is a barometer of labor market conditions (Table
9). For Wausau, the index fell from 108 to 73 over the course of the year.
This means there has been a 32 percent drop in the amount of job advertising,
signaling weak labor market conditions. For the U.S. the index dropped from 45
to 40, a decline of about 17 percent.
Unemployment
claim data is a measure of local family financial distress (Table
10). New claims on a weekly average basis fell from 538 to 517, a decline of
4.0 percent. However, total claims on a weekly average basis rose 2,101 to 2,272
or 8.2 percent in our year over comparison. Thus, we get mixed signals from this
indicator of local well being.
Despite
some contractions, residential construction continues to experience high levels
of activity (Table 11). The number of residential permits
issued rose by over 11 percent. Moreover, the value of this activity expanded
from $9.2 million to $10.8 million or by over 18 percent. In contrast, the
number of housing units fell from 123 to 73 since last year. Residential
alteration permits also declined falling from 208 to 183. Furthermore, the value
of this activity contracted from $1.3 million to $1.2 million, a decline of
about 11 percent.
The
volatile nonresidential construction sector is presented without percentage
changes (Table 12). The number of permits numbered 13 in
the fourth quarter. These permits had an estimated value of nearly $75 million.
Business alteration activity reached 56 permits in fourth quarter and the value
of the activity was listed at $8.0 million. Lastly, some of the major new
projects in the area include an expansion at UW-MC, an expansion at a local
hospital, a new addition to a local processing plant, and a major expansion at
another local hospital facility. |
