The Wood county area experienced an increase in its seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate. However, the mark is still very low from historic and economic points of view. In addition the area experienced a total employment increase of approximately 2.5 percent. Other statistics presented in this report indicate that the economy was quite stable. In other words growth was modest by most accounts.

     Wood county industrial employment expanded in the categories of trade and services (Table 7). The gains of 2.5 and 14.3 percent respectively offset the declines registered for construction and government of 12.5 and 2.0 percent.

     Manufacturing payrolls in the county are estimated to be at the same level as last year. However, the Marshfield Employment Index rose by a solid 5.2 percent. This gives strong indication that local area payrolls grew more rapidly than in the rest of the county.

     Retailers in the Marshfield area believe that store sales and traffic were modestly better than a year ago (Table 8). Moreover, the CWERB poll shows this group is forecasting somewhat better results for the first three months of 1998 as compared to 1997. Since about 1994 retailer sentiment has been trending lower for all four questions. For example in early 1994 the retailer index was above 70 for the questions concerning sales and store traffic.

     Help wanted advertising in Marshfield rose by 8 points or about 4 percent from a year ago (Table 9). The 198 reading means that about 2.0 jobs are being advertised. for every position listed in the base year. Thus, the index remains at an elevated level for the local area. Meanwhile, the U.S. help wanted advertising index expanded by approximately 8 percent. Thus signaling that the national economy is likely to see continued growth in its payroll numbers.

     Table 10 and Table 11 present data on local family financial distress. Public assistance claims on a county wide basis fell form 2,603 to 2,428 or about 7 percent over the past twelve months. However, new unemployment claims on a wkly average basis expanded by 23 cases or 31 percent when compared to last year. Moreover, total unemployment claims rose by 101 or by 51 percent over the same period. Thus, area layoffs have served to push these numbers up above last year's marks. 

     Residential construction generated just 3 permits with an estimated value of $360 thousand (Table 12). The number of units slated to commence in 4th Quarter was 6. Residential alteration permits reached 23 and their estimated value was $147 thousand. By in large the construction activity on a percentage basis was off the pace of a year ago. However, the number changes in an absolute sense were small.

     Nonresidential construction activity is presented without percentage changes due to the volatile nature of the activity (Table 13). The number of permits issued in 4th Quarter was 10 and they are estimated to have a value of $630 thousand.

     Also, the number of business alteration permits was 15 and their value is estimated to be around $1.2 million. Thus, a good amount of nonresidential spending took place during the last quarter of the year.

     Financial statistics for the Marshfield area are given in Table 14. For the first time in memory, bank deposits in our sample declined from the previous year's mark. The contraction amounted to about 2.9 percent. During the same period bank lending activity expanded by just 1.0 percent in the sample of area financial institutions.

     Clark county economic data are presented in Table 15 and Table 16. Clark county's industrial sector employment expanded by about 1.6 percent. The manufacturing sector lead the growth by increasing from 2,381 to 2,968 persons or by 4.8 percent. All other industrial sectors either remained stable over the year or registered slight declines. The unemployment rate rose to 6 percent in this agriculture based county. However, total employment increased by 2.4 percent since December 1996. The paradox between having a rising unemployment rate and rising employment can by explained by the 3.3 percent rise in the county's labor force.