Portage county industrial sector growth was very strong in First Quarter 2000.  As indicated in Table 7, all sectors except for construction recorded respectable growth rates.  Manufacturing expanded by 100 positions and services are estimated to have expanded by 200 people.  Trade and government payrolls are estimated to have grown by 100 and 600 jobs respectively.  Lastly, construction employment remained unchanged at the relatively high level of 900 jobs.

The CWERB retailer survey in Table 8 shows that local merchants feel that total sales were slightly lower than a year ago.  However, they estimate that store traffic was modestly better than a year ago at the same time.  This group was also asked to forecast future trends in store traffic and sales.  Our local merchants expressed greater optimism than last quarter and believe that store traffic and sales will be markedly higher next quarter.

The help wanted advertising index for the greater Stevens Point area remains at a historically high level (Table 9).  As a matter of fact, the index has increased by nearly 11 percent from a year ago.  The mark of 334 means there are 3.3 jobs being advertised for each position listed in the base year.  The index also reflects the fact that businesses throughout the state are advertising in Central Wisconsin for qualified workers.

Local family financial distress is measured in Tables 10 and 11.  New public assistance claims fell from 298 to 117 on a monthly average basis (Table 10).  However, the total caseload of public assistance claims rose from 1,732 to 1,958 over the year.  With regard to unemployment, new claims on a weekly average basis expanded from 86 to 93 (Table 11).  Likewise, total unemployment claims rose from 182 to 223 over the period.  In sum, our measures of local family distress indicate that some individuals are not participating in this robust economy.

The residential construction scene in the greater Stevens Point-Plover area remains vibrant (Table 12).  Residential permits issued rose by nearly 18 percent and the estimated value of the new construction climbed by approximately 10 percent.  The number of housing units in the area expanded by 8.5 percent over the year.  Residential alterations permits jumped up by 12.6 percent.  Only the dollar amount of the alteration activity was lower than the previous year, down by 16.1 percent.

Due to the voloatile nature of this kind of activity, nonresidential construction in the Stevens Point-Plover area is presented in Table 13 without percentage change.  The number of permits issued was 6 and the estimated value of the activity was $1.2 million.  During the First Quarter time frame 23 business alteration permits were issued.  The value of the activity was estimated at $898 thousand.  Overall, the activity of First Quarter 2000 compares favorably to past periods.

The financial statistics for Portage County are given in Table 14.  This sample of area financial institutions shows a surge taking place in the amount of bank deposits.  The amount of deposits rose from $299 to $360 million over the year, or by about 20 percent.  Financial institution lending also increased, rising from $322.4 to $363.0 million.  Both deposit and lending figures support the notion that we are experiencing a growing and prosperous economy.