The Stevens Point Area economy rebounded from the lull it experienced in Third Quarter. In contrast, Fourth Quarter 1994 results were strong. Further, almost all the indicators in this quarter's report were well ahead of the marks established a year ago. Especially encouraging for the local area were the gains made in industrial sector employment, help wanted advertising, nonresidential construction, and financial statistics. 

     The employment picture was much brighter this quarter compared to last
(Table 7). Every sector except construction added to its payroll. Manufacturing, services, trade, and government expanded by 600, 100, 500 and 100 jobs respectively. As of the end of Fourth Quarter 1994 there were 30,920 industrial sector jobs in Portage county up from 29,830 of last year. This increase represents a healthy 3.7 percent change.

     The CWERB's survey of local area merchants is given in Table 8. Generally speaking the level of confidence has declined in all four categories since September. Total sales and store traffic compared to the previous year were deemed to be better. But the levels of confidence were lower this time than when they responded in September. Similarly, when the merchants were asked to forecast sales and store traffic their response levels were again above neutral but still noticeably lower than in September.

     Help wanted advertising has risen dramatically since the beginning of 1993 (Table 9). The trend continued during Fourth Quarter 1994 when the CWERB index rose from 240 to 263, or 10 percent since last year. This means there are 10 percent more job advertisements than in the year before. As mentioned in last quarter's report an undetermined portion of the advertising is coming from firms located outside the region.

     Table 10 and Table 11 are measures of local area financial distress. Public assistance claims on a monthly average basis rose from 125 to 157 or 25.6 percent from 1993. In markedly different turn, the total caseload on a monthly average basis decreased from 1553 to 1414 or 9 percent over the same period. With regard to unemployment Claims, new claims on a weekly average basis declined from 52 to 48 and total claims remained virtually unchanged inching up from 137 to 138 in the year over comparison.

     Residential construction activity was off the pace of last year in the number of residential permits issued, their estimated value, and the number of units by 18, 6, and 3 percent respectively (Table 12). In sharp contrast, activity associated with household alterations soared over last year's totals. Residential alteration permits and their estimated value climbed by 56 and 50 percent. It appears that higher interest rates have convinced many home owners of the cost effectiveness of remodeling their present dwelling. This finding is consistent with national alteration activity.

     Table 13 shows that Fourth Quarter 1994 was a very strong period for nonresidential construction activity. The number of new permits issued was 9 with an estimated value of $2 million. Moreover, the number of business permits reached 62 and their value was estimated to be $2.6 million. As usual no percentage changes are given in Table 13 because inherent volatility of business investment.

     More good news is listed in Table 14. Financial statistics from our sample of area institutions moved well ahead of the figures of last year. Bank deposits jumped by about $20 million or 6 percent. Additionally, bank lending continues to expand rapidly in Portage county increasing $36.5 million or 13.3 percent from Fourth Quarter 1993.