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Central Wisconsin
unemployment rates were generally higher than a year ago. Only Portage County
registered a decline. Total employment was also generally lower. Only
Portage County registered an improvement in its total payroll. Nonfarm
employment in the three-county area was only slightly higher than a year ago.
The decline in manufacturing has been the primary drag on employment growth in
our region. Sales tax collections were higher in all three counties
suggesting an increase in retail activity. Lastly, business executives are
upbeat about future economic conditions.
Unemployment rates
for all of the reporting areas are given in Table 2.
The seasonally unadjusted unemployment rates in Portage and Wood Counties fell
to 4.0 percent and to 5.0 percent respectively over the course of the year.
Marathon County registered a very low 3.7 percent unemployment rate. However,
this was up from the 3.5 percent mark of twelve months ago. The Wisconsin
unemployment rate, likewise, rose from 4.3 percent to 4.5 percent over the
same time period.
A state survey of
households provides the employment estimates for the various regions presented
in Table 3. Portage County was the only area to post a
gain in total employment. Portage County payrolls are estimated to have
expanded by 2.1 percent from a year ago. Meanwhile Marathon and Wood Counties
payrolls contracted by 5.0 percent and 2.8 percent respectively. Employment
in Wisconsin fell as well, declining by about 0.7 percent. The United States,
however, added almost 2.0 percent to its payroll since 2004.
Table 4 gives central Wisconsin employment change by sector. These
estimates are derived from a state sponsored survey of business firms. Total
nonfarm employment was virtually unchanged over the course of the year, rising
by about 0.1 percent. Manufacturing continues to be a problem spot for the
economy because this sector continues to lose employment. For the record,
manufacturing is down in the region from 30 thousand to 29.5 thousand people
over the past year. Education and health services and information and
business services registered the largest gains over the year. Lastly,
government employment in the three-county area is down by about 2.0 percent.
Retail activity in
the central Wisconsin area is proxied by the data given in
Table 5. Sales tax distributions were higher in all
three counties when compared to last year's totals. Portage County
collections were up by almost 11 percent, while Marathon County posted a 3.7
percent gain, and Wood County sales tax collections rose by nearly 6.5
percent.
The CWERB survey of
regional business people is given in Table 6. This
group indicates that recent economic changes at the national and local levels
are little changed from a year ago. When we asked them to forecast what
conditions are likely to prevail in the nation, local area, and with their
particular industry they felt that matters would definitely improve in the
next several quarters.
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