Wood County industrial sector employment is given in Table 7.  Manufacturing and trade are each estimated to be about 100 positions lower than a year ago.  Services, meanwhile, is said to have gained 600 jobs and likewise government has added about 600 positions.  Temporary census workers represent a portion of the government employment increase.  Construction also experienced a gain of 100 persons.  The CWERB Marshfield Employment Index rose by 2.6 percent over the past twelve months, suggesting that local payrolls rose by about 2.5 percent.

     Retailer confidence in Marshfield is markedly down from the March timeframe (Table 8).  When the survey group was asked about store traffic and sales they felt that activity was slightly below that of a year ago.  Further, this group of merchants believes that store traffic and sales will modestly improve in the next quarter.

     Help wanted advertising remains at a high level in Second Quarter but it's much lower than a year ago (Table 9).  The index in 1999 stood at 306 and in 2000 at 262.  This would indicate that the demand for labor while still strong is not as robust as a year ago.  The mark of 262 suggests there are 2.6 jobs being advertised for every position in the base year.

     Public assistance claims in Wood County have risen (Table 10).  Total caseload in Second Quarter 1999 was 2,455.  In Second Quarter 2000, the claims figure reached 2,597, an increase of 5.8 percent.  This figure indicates an increase in area family financial distress.  Unemployment claims on a weekly average bases fell from 58 to 53 in Wood County (Table 11).  However, the total claims figure rose from 165 to 198 over the year.  Again suggesting that there has been an increase in area family financial distress.

     The residential construction scene in the Marshfield area was a huge bright spot for the local economy (Table 12).  The number of residential permits issued rose from 8 to 21 and the value of the construction increased from $1.3 million to $3.6 million in our year over comparison.  The number of housing units jumped from 10 to 28.  Alteration activity was also brisk.  The number of alteration permits rose from 47 to 62 and the estimated value of the alterations rose from $383 thousand to $525 thousand.

     More good news comes from nonresidential activity.  Due to the volatile nature of this activity, percentage changes are not calculated.  However, from a historic viewpoint the numbers were quite good (Table 13).  The number of permits issued reach 31 and they had an estimated value of $2.1 million.  Alteration activity was also brisk with 13 project permits being issued in Second Quarter.  The value of this activity is estimated to be $752 thousand.

     Due to merger activity in the Marshfield area, financial statistics in Table 14 are only for Second Quarter 2000.  During Third Quarter 2000, comparability will be restored.  For Second Quarter 2000, bank deposits in our sample reached $190.6 million and lending was $174.5 million in the local economy.

     Clark County economic statistics are given in Table 15 and Table 16.  The majority of industrial sectors in Clark County reported employment gains.  To be specific, manufacturing, trade, and construction expanded from last year.  Only services and government registered a decline.  The unemployment rate rose to 5.7 percent but the total number of people employed expanded from 15,021 to 15,778 or about 5.0 percent from last year.  The rapidly expanding labor force answers the question as to how the unemployment rate could rise with increasing employment.  In other words, the labor force expanded more quickly than the number employed.