As indicated in Table 7, Wood County industrial sector employment grew by an estimated 900 positions since March of 1999.  Manufacturing and services employment expanded by 1.0 percent and 5.8 percent, respectively.  Government payrolls expanded by about 9.0 percent.  Trade and construction declined slightly by 3.3 percent and 6.3 percent each.  For the Marshfield area the CWERB Employment Index estimates that local employment went up by approximately 2.6 percent.

     Local merchants were quite upbeat in their assessment of the local retail scene.  Our panel of local retailers felt that store traffic and sales were strongly higher than a year ago (Table 8).  The group is very upbeat with regard to future activity.  Our retailers forecast that traffic and sales will be noticeably higher three months from now as compared to the year before.

     More excellent news comes from the help wanted advertising index for the Marshfield area (Table 9).  The index stands at a record level for that time of year.  The 273 reading means there are 2.7 jobs being advertised for each job in the base year.  These figures are consistent with the generally held belief that labor market conditions are becoming increasingly tighter.

     Tables 10 and 11 are measures of local family distress and serve as a reminder that not all families are participating in the general economic prosperity.  Table 10 shows that the total caseload for public assistance rose by 3.0 percent in a year over comparison.  Total caseload includes several types of assistance.  Hence the numbers do not actually reflect the number of people receiving aid.  Table 11 also gives us some additional insight into this dimension of the economy.  New unemployment claims on a weekly average basis increased from 95 to 102 and total claims climbed from 246 to 272 over the past twelve months.

     Residential construction activity (Table 12) was generally higher than in First Quarter 1999.  New permits issued was 4 and their estimated value was pegged at $508 thousand.  The number of new housing units slated for construction was 5.  Residential alteration activity continues to be brisk in the Marshfield area.  The number of permits issued was 27 and they are estimated to be worth nearly $200 thousand.

     Due to the volatile nature of nonresidential construction activity, no percent changes are given on a year over comparison basis (Table 13).  The number of permits issued was 4 and the associated value was recorded at $1.8 million.   When it came to alteration activity the number of permits issued was 17 and they had an estimated value of nearly $400 thousand.

     Because of merger activity in the Marshfield area, financial statistics in Table 14 are only for First Quarter 2000.  During 3rd Quarter 2000, comparability will be restored and as a result we will be able to make year over comparisons.  For First Quarter 2000, the amount of bank deposits reached $191.3 million.  Lending by area financial institutions hit $170.5 million during this same time period.

     Clark County economic data is presented in Table 15 and Table 16.  Manufacturing employment was 2.6 percent higher in March as compared to last year.  All other industrial sectors were estimated to have declined from a year ago.  However, good news comes in Table 16 where total employment for Clark County is estimated to have risen by 5.7 percent.  Moreover, the unemployment rate fell from 7.7 percent in 1999 to 7.5 percent in 2000.