The second quarter economic performance of Wausau‑Marathon County is a bright spot in the Central Wisconsin economy. In contrast to other parts of the region, data for the Wausau area suggest that the overall slowdown which is taking place in those areas has not yet crept into the local economy. Historically, the Wausau area has tended to react slower to economic fluctuations than the country as a whole. It will be interesting to see if this is once again the case.
 

     Sources of strength for this quarter include growth in manufacturing, services, and trade employment. This is in sharp contrast to U.S. employment growth, where sluggishness is the rule rather than the exception. Further, such indicators as residential construction, help wanted advertising, and local financial statistics were all positive in nature.
 

     Industrial sector employment, in contrast to total employment, grew at a rather brisk pace from last year, Table 7. All classifications except for construction posted healthy increases. Service and trade sector employment paced this quarter's results by adding 1800 and 1300 people to their respective payrolls. Not far behind in the level of growth was manufacturing, with 800 additional people employed in the local area. These three sectors reached all‑time employment highs regardless of the time of year. Only construction employment was below last year's totals. In sum nearly 4,200 new jobs now exist in Marathon County compared to one year ago.
 

     Retailer confidence appears to be holding firm in the Wausau area, Table 8. The CWERB survey of local merchants indicates that retailers believe store traffic and sales are better than a year ago. Further this group believes that store traffic and sales will continue to exceed last year's levels. The results of the poll are in contrast to national data concerning consumer sentiment about the economy, where there is a lesser degree of confidence.
 

     For the first time in five quarters the help wanted advertising index stands above, if only marginally, the previous year's mark for the Wausau area (Table 9). This barometer of future employment growth implies that job availability in the short‑term should be at approximately the same level as last year. The national index contracted by nearly 11 percent from a year ago and continues the trend of national employment advertising contraction. This result is no surprise given the reported difficulties permeating the national economy.

     Indications that the local economy has seen improvement in economic conditions over the latter part of the 1980s comes from an examination of public assistance and unemployment claims data. Table 10 and Table 11 present current information on the state of local family financial distress. Public assistance claims have declined from an average of 23 per month to 10 for second quarter, a drop of 56.5 percent. Likewise, total caseload fell to an average of 76 cases per month from 107, a contraction of 29 percent. In Table 11, initial unemployment claims, on a weekly average basis, have declined by nearly 6.5 percent or 12 claims per week. Total claims increased slightly, rising from 1465 to 1493 on a weekly average basis.
 

     Residential construction data in Table 12 presents information on Wausau and surrounding areas. Construction activity, a leading economic indicator, continued to be strong relative to earlier years. Most categories of activity were higher than or closely approximated the strong showing of second quarter 1989. The Rib Mountain area accounted for approximately $3.3 million of the estimated value of new homes in the area, with Wausau contributing around $3.0 million to the total. Of the Wausau total about $1.05 million is attributed to a new 30 unit apartment complex on Grand Avenue.
 

     Table 13 presents nonresidential construction numbers for the area. Percentage changes from a year ago are not provided due to the singular and thus volatile nature of this type of activity. Major nonresidential alteration activity for second quarter includes the $500,000 remodeling at IBM and the $1.5 million project by the Wausau School District.
 

     Financial statistics for the greater Wausau area are given in Table 14. The sample for second quarter shows bank deposits rising by $57.1 million, an increase of over 9 percent. Besides the increase in local liquidity, bank lending continues to expand. For second quarter bank loans increased by $27.8 million over last year's mark. The $664.6 million in deposits and $507.5 in loans are all‑time highs for the sample regardless of the time of year.