The Stevens Point area economy posted the following results for 1st quarter 1994. The unemployment rate fell 0.2 points to 6.4 percent, while total employment expanded by less than 1 percent. The industrial sectors added nearly 1.9 percent to area payrolls. Once again, the services sector expanded the most by adding 300 jobs to this quarter's payroll. retailers say sales and store traffic are better than a year ago and they expect matters to improve over the next few months. Labor market activity picked up, as evidenced by the 35 percent gain in help wanted advertising. With regard to family financial distress, public assistance was much improved over the course of the year, but unemployment claims rose during the same period. Both residential and nonresidential construction were lower than last year. The hard winter of 1994 may have influenced these results. Lastly, financial activity picked up in the area in both deposits and lending. 

     Portage County employment rose in the industrial sectors of manufacturing, services, and construction by 100, 300, and 20 respectively (Table 7). These numbers represent increases of 2.0, 3.1, and 2.0 percent. Only government employment fell from last year's mark. The decline of 100 shows a contraction of 1.8 percent. Finally, trade employment was unchanged from March 1994, remaining at 6900. In sum, since March 1993, a net of 530 jobs have been added to area payrolls, a gain of 1.9 percent, which brings industrial sector employment to a total of 28,910 in Portage County. 

     The results of a poll taken of local merchants concerning retail sales and store traffic are shown in Table 8. Retailers were asked to compare sales and store traffic for first quarter 1994 to the previous year. Response averages of 66 and 59 indicate that activity was perceived to be noticeably better than a year ago. However, an even greater degree of optimism was expressed with regard to sales and store traffic three months from now. Marks of 71 and 68 suggest that this group expects a substantial increase in activity compared to the same period last year. In general, since first quarter 1993, retailer confidence has been on the upswing locally. 

     The help wanted advertising index in Table 9, a barometer of local labor market conditions, shows that job listings are 45 points higher than a year ago, a 35 percent increase. Thus, even though this gauge does not differentiate between full and part‑time positions, or high versus low paying jobs, it is nonetheless useful and indicates the probable direction of the local labor market. Since first quarter 1993 help wanted advertising has been sharply rising in our area. 

     Public assistance claims on a monthly average basis are given in Table 10. New applications fell from 175 to 152 or nearly 14 percent from last year. Equally impressive was the nearly 16 percent contraction in total caseload from 1865 to1569. The total caseload figure has been falling since early 1993 for the Portage County area. Another indicator of local family financial distress is unemployment claim data (Table 11). Here the results are not as encouraging as for public assistance. Unemployment claims on a weekly average basis rose from 68 to 81 or 19 percent from last year. Meanwhile, total claims rose by 9 or 6.6 percent over the same time period. 

     Residential construction was well off the pace of first quarter 1993 (Table 12). The extremely cold weather undoubtedly played a significant role in this outcome. Residential permits issued, the estimated value of new residential constriction, the number of housing units, and the number of residential alteration permits issued fell by 35, 26, 33, and 16 percent respectively. Only the estimated value of residential alterations was higher. At some point in time, new home construction will likely satisfy pent up local demand for new construction. When this time comes, it can be expected that construction activity will decline. At this juncture, it is unclear whether the market is becoming satisfied or whether this slowing in activity is a temporary result of the harsh weather during first quarter and/or escalating construction costs. 

     Nonresidential construction in the greater Stevens Point‑Plover area is presented without percentage changes due to the volatile nature of this activity (Table 13). For first quarter 1994 there was just one permit issued for new nonresidential construction with an estimated value of $780 thousand. Twenty‑nine business alteration permits were issued for a total of $185 thousand. Even though it is not wise to compare year to year results directly, it seems clear that first quarter 1993 was stronger overall in this category than first quarter 1994. Once again, the extreme weather conditions during the winter of 1994 may be the major culprit in these results. 

     Financial statistics are displayed in Table 14. Bank deposits expanded by $9.5 million or a healthy 3.0 percent from a year ago. Deposits now stand at $323.2 million in our sample. With regard to lending, loans increased from $257.3 to $284.4 million, or 10.5 percent in the institutions surveyed. Thus, the level of lending suggests the potential for additional economic activity in the quarters ahead.