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The
results of this quarter present a mixed picture of the economy.
Generally speaking unemployment rates are lower, total employment is higher,
sales tax collections are higher, and business sentiment is better than a year
ago. However, industrial sector employment appears to have contracted
from last year. This estimate is based on a survey of business firm
data.
The
unemployment rate for each reporting area was lower this year when compared to
the year before (Table 2). The Marathon, Portage,
and Wood county unemployment rates were respectively 5.1, 5.9, and 7.5
percent. Meanwhile, Wisconsin registered a 6.2 percent rate of
unemployment and the U.S. posted a 6.0 percent mark.
The
total employment figures in Table 3 are based on a
survey of households. All areas reported a gain in employment.
Marathon, Portage, and Wood county payrolls expanded by 3.3, 1.5, and 1.6
percent respectively. The state's employment rose from 2.8 million to
2.9 million, or by 2.3 percent. The overall rate for the nation was 0.7
percent. Payrolls at the national level rose from 136.8 million to 137.7
million over the past twelve months.
Table
4, in contrast to Table 3, uses a survey of business firms to derive the
employment estimates. Central Wisconsin employment is estimated to have
decreased from 145.9 thousand to 145.3 thousand, or a decline of 0.4 percent.
Construction and natural resources, financial activities, and educational and
health services were the only sectors to post a gain from a year ago.
Sales
tax collections are another indicator of the pace of economic activity in an
area (Table 5). Portage county sales tax
collections rose from $1.02 million to $1.10 million, or by an estimated 8
percent form last year. Likewise Marathon county sales tax collections
expanded from $2.42 million to $2.53 million over the past year. Thus
both measures suggest that an amount of growth has taken place in the retail
end of the local economies.
The
CWERB survey of regional business leaders shows that this group was encouraged
by recent changes in national economic conditions (Table 6).
However, the sentiment of this group was much more reserved when it came to
assessing recent local economic conditions. The good news is that this
survey group believes that the national economy, local conditions, and the
activity level in their particular industry will improve in the quarter ahead.
This bodes very well for the Central Wisconsin economy.
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