Table 7 Table 8 Table 9 Table 10 Table 11 Table 12 Table 13 Table 14

     The Wausau area economy expanded at a decent pace over the course of the past year. Total employment, industrial employment, retail activity, construction, and financial distress statistics indicate that the local area continued its upward economic trend. However, the seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate increased by 0.1 percent, and help wanted advertising fell from a year earlier. But, all things considered, it can be said that the local area has fared well, when compared to other areas of the country where pockets of economic stagnation still persist. Further, the national economy appears to have pulled out of the doldrums, albeit at a subdued pace. This can be only be interpreted as good news for the local area, and may suggest that, for all intents and purposes, the region has escaped the effects of the recession. This is contrary to what happened in the early 1980's when the Wausau area economy was wracked very severely by double‑digit unemployment rates. 

     Marathon County payrolls expanded by approximately 1000 positions from last year (Table 7). This represents a growth rate of 1.9 percent. Every category of industrial sector employment participated in the economic rally, except for the trade sector. The manufacturing, services, construction, and government sectors increased by 500, 300, 300, and 200 jobs respectively since March 1991. With nearly 54 thousand jobs now in the local labor market, it appears that the economy has successfully weathered the slowdown/recession experienced elsewhere in the nation.
 

     In Table 8 information concerning the health of the local retail sector is presented. Our panel of local merchants tells us that store traffic and sales are significantly better than one year ago during the same time period. Data concerning increases in local sales tax collections confirm the opinions of the merchants. This is good news for our local economy because retail sales are indicators of the vitality of a region. When quizzed about the future of the retail sector, these merchants say that they expect store traffic and sales to be ahead of last year's pace three months from now. Once again, information worth noting.
 

     In contrast to the upbeat information concerning retail activity, Table 9 shows that help wanted advertising is off last year's marks by nearly 19 percent. The index reading of 146 tells us that there are about 1.46 jobs being advertised for every one job advertised in the base year 1980. The index, of course, does not capture all possible job openings in the local area, but rather serves as a barometer of local labor market conditions.
 

     Measures of local family financial distress as depicted in Table 10 and
Table 11 show that some slight improvement has taken place since last year. Public assistance claims are given on a monthly average basis. New applications declined from 22 to 21, and similarly, total caseload fell from 93 to 91 over the course of the year. Thus, a great degree of stability has evolved over the past twelve months. Unemployment claim data on a weekly average basis declined by even more significant margins. Initial unemployment claims fell by 40 or 7.1 percent, and total unemployment claims contracted by 111 or 2.6 percent. Overall then, Tables 10 and 11 reflect stability and gradual improvement in the local situation.
 

     Residential construction activity over the past twelve months has exploded in the Wausau area (Table 12). Every category of activity is significantly higher than a year ago. Residential permits issued, their estimated value, and the number of housing units rocketed upward by 133 percent, 176 percent, and 134 percent respectively from March 1991. Similarly, residential alteration permits and the estimated value of alterations leaped by 140 percent and 196 percent. Needless to say, it takes low interest rates and a healthy dose of optimism on the part of buyers and builders to register and sustain such numbers.
 

     The volatile nonresidential construction categories in the Wausau area are displayed in Table 13. The business investment numbers for capital items are usually dominated by a few large dollar amount projects which occur on an irregular basis. Thus, percentage changes are not given. The number of permits for the period was 5 with an estimated value of $544,000. Further, the first quarter 1992 time period saw 19 permits issued for alteration activity with an estimated value of $731, 200.
 

     Financial statistics for the Wausau area are given in Table 14. Bank deposit activity, a measure of local income and liquidity, increased by $24 million from a year ago. The growth rate of 3.6% outpaced inflation by a slight margin, producing an inflation adjusted growth rate in the local area of about 0.3 percent. Bank lending, another gauge of the local economy expanded from $527.2 million to $537.9 million, a gain of $10.7 million or 2.0 percent. Thus, lending activity did not keep pace with the inflation rate of 3.2 percent.