Wood County's total employment, based upon a household survey, rose by 2.4 percent from a year ago.  Total employment, generated from a survey of business firms, declined by 0.2 percent from a year ago.  This discrepancy may indicate a structural change in the economy.  A movement in employment toward smaller firms and the self employed may be taking place.  Moreover, these types of activity are not as likely to show up in the survey of business firms.  Retailer confidence rebounded from last quarter's results and shows some improvement in the local retail scene.  Help wanted advertising remains off the pace of a year ago.  Meanwhile public assistance and unemployment claims data show some improvement taking place locally.  Lastly construction activity was generally lower and off the pace set in 2003.  It should be remembered that 2003 was a very robust year in terms of residential construction activity. 

            Wood County nonfarm employment numbers are given in Table 7.  Total nonfarm employment is estimated to have fallen by 0.2 percent over the past twelve months, or by 100 jobs.  Difficulty in the manufacturing sector was the biggest drag on employment growth.  Manufacturing is estimated to have contracted by 500 positions.  Thus, nonfarm employment would have registered an increase of 400 positions if we exclude this troubled sector.  Total nonfarm employment in Wood now stands at 44.6 thousand jobs. 

            Retailer confidence in the Marshfield area is given in Table 8.  The CWERB's survey of local merchants indicates that total sales and store traffic are modestly better than one year ago.  When the survey group was questioned about future store performance, it was their belief that traffic and sales would be at a higher level than the year before.   Generally speaking this group was more optimistic in June than what it was in March.  This is a good sign for the local economy. 

            Help wanted advertising remains a good barometer of local labor market conditions (Table 9).  Help wanted in the Marshfield area fell from 107 to 88 from June 2003 to June 2004.  The reading of 88 means there are 88 positions being advertised for every 100 positions in the base year.  The U.S. help wanted advertising index rose every so slightly from 36 to 39 over the same period.  Studies have shown an inverse relationship exists between help wanted advertising and the unemployment rate.  This relationship has held true even in this era of web-based advertising. 

            Public assistance claim data is presented in Table 10.  Public assistance on a monthly average basis remained unchanged from a year ago.  Another measure of local family distress is unemployment claims (Table 11).   On a weekly average basis new claims fell from 299 to 194 or by 35.1 percent over the course of the year.  Likewise total claims receded from 1,908 to 1,623 or by almost 15 percent from 2003.  Thus the unemployment claim data seem to suggest that there has been improvement in these figures.  Hopefully this is signaling that people are finding employment opportunities rather than having their benefits running out. 

            Residential construction activity fell off the hot pace established in 2003 (Table 12).  Every category of activity in 2004 was lower than what it was in the previous year.  The number of residential permits issues fell by 34.8 percent and the value of this new home construction contracted by 46 percent.  Likewise the number of housing limits was down by 23.1 percent.  Residential alteration activity was also lower this time around.  The number of alterations permits issued fell by 22.1 percent and the associated value of this alterations activity was down by 47.4 percent. 

            Nonresidential construction activity is presented without percentage changes (Table 13).  This type of activity is very volatile and fluctuates greatly from period to period.  Only one permit was issued in second quarter 2004.  However the health care related facility associated with this permit had an estimated value of $2.77 million.  The number of business alteration permits reached 19 during the quarter and the value was slated at $3.8 million.  Two major remodeling projects took place at a shopping mall and a grocery store. 

            Clark county economic data are present in Tables 14 and 15.  Clark County represents an important market for Marshfield area businesses. Table 14 gives nonfarm employment figures for Clark County.  Total nonfarm employment grew by 300 positions or by 2.9 percent from 2003.  Table 15 presents a wide variety of employment statistics.  The unemployment rate dropped to 6.0 percent, total employment increased by 4.7 percent, and the number of unemployed fell by 4.7 percent from a year ago.  Thus, the majority of measures suggest an improving economy in rural Clark County.