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The economic data for the local area is presented in Tables 7-13. A
descriptive analysis of the information is presented below.
Total nonfarm
employment increased by about 300 positions from one year ago, or an increase
of 0.8 percent. Sectors that expanded over the past twelve months were
construction and natural resources, trade, education and health services,
information and business services, and government (Table 7). Declining sectors were
manufacturing, transportation and utilities, financial activities, and leisure
and hospitality. In terms of the greatest number of jobs lost, manufacturing
contracted by about 200 positions.
Retailer
confidence is given in Table 8 for the Stevens Point-Plover area. Local
merchants in the CWERB survey indicated that store traffic and sales were just
slightly better than the year before. Given the decline mentioned earlier in
sales tax collections, it appears that the retail sector has experienced a
rough period. Local merchants in the survey were fairly upbeat in their
assessment of future store traffic and sales. Moreover, the group believes
that retail matters will improve in the months ahead.
A good sign for
the local labor market is the up tick in help wanted advertising (Table
9). Even though
help wanted advertising represents only a small fraction of the number of
available positions in an area, it is nonetheless a good barometer of what
will be taking place in the local labor market. At the national level the help
wanted advertising index was virtually unchanged.
New public
assistance claims while up slightly are virtually unchanged from a year ago (Table
10).
The number of new claims rose from 231 to 238. A more substantial increase was
registered for the total caseload from 4,220 to 4,561 or 8.1 percent. Another
measure of local family financial distress is unemployment claim information (Table
11).
New claims rose from 195 to 258, a gain of 32 percent. Meanwhile total claims
fell from 1,967 to 1,788. In sum it appears there has been an overall increase
in the level of family financial distress.
Residential
construction in our area is well off the pace established in first quarter
2004 (Table 12). Residential permits issued fell by 34.6 percent and the estimated value
of this activity declined by 25.4 percent. In addition, the number of new
housing units contracted by 33.3 percent. Alteration activity was also well
off pace from last year. Residential alteration permits issued went down by
13.8 percent and their estimated value decline by 12.7 percent.
Nonresidential
construction is given in Table 13. No percentage changes are given due to the
volatile nature of this kind of construction. The number of new permits issued
was 4 and the estimated value was a very substantial $9.4 million. Two major
projects this time around include the permits for the new Holiday Inn and
Kohl's department store. Lastly, the number of business alteration permits was
34 and the associated value was $962.9 thousand. |
