The Stevens Point area economy expanded during the April to June 1994 time period. The growth was somewhat modest, but nonetheless a welcome event. A summary of the results is as follows. The unemployment rate declined to 5.6 percent from 6.3 percent over the course of the year. Total employment is estimated to have grown by 1100 positions or by 3.2 percent, but industrial sector employment growth was a much more modest 1.4%, with no appreciable growth taking place in manufacturing, constriction, and government payrolls. Merchants, however, were very upbeat in their assessment of the local retail trade situation and are very optimistic concerning future activity. 

     In addition help wanted advertising surged in the area which should mean expanding payrolls, but it should be noted that an undetermined part of the increase can be attributed to advertising by firms located outside of the immediate area. A mixed picture comes from local area family distress statistics. Public assistance claims are quite a bit lower than a year ago, while unemployment claims were generally higher over the same period. Residential construction was much lower this quarter than last year and nonresidential construction was quite strong from a historical standpoint. Finally, the big news with financial statistics was the dramatic leap in local lending, up 17% from 1993. 

     Portage County employment is presented by major industrial sector in Table 7. The services and trade sectors posted gains of 3.2 and 1.4 percent each in the year over comparison. Manufacturing, construction, and government employment growth, while positive, was so small that, when rounded, the percentage change results equaled zero in each of these categories. Further, the numbers indicate that total industrial sector employment grew from 29,740 to 30,170 or a modest 1.4 percent. 

     Table 8 shows the outcome of this quarter's retailer confidence survey. Merchants report that sales and store traffic are much better than a year ago and expressed more optimism than in March. When the CWERB asked them to forecast the future, the group was quite upbeat about store traffic and sales three months from now compared to a year ago. Historically the readings of 72 and 69 represent a high degree of optimism. All four series reported in the table have been trending upward since first quarter 1993. 

     Table 9 shows that a huge jump occurred in Stevens Point Area help wanted advertising over the year. The index climbed 67 percent above last year's mark to an all‑time record of 409. Plans for local business expansion played a key role in the results. However, there seems to be a substantial amount of help wanted advertising that is being generated from businesses located outside the local area, e.g. the Fox Valley area. Rapid growth in the Fox Valley as well as in other parts of the state may be forcing businesses there to expand the search for qualified employees. 

     Figures dealing with kcal family financial distress are given in Table 10 and Table 11. Good news is presented in Table 10. New applications for public assistance and total caseload are both down from a year ago by 28.9 and 19.3 percent respectively. The total caseload has been trending downward since early 1993. Unemployment claims, however, both new and total rose by 12 and 11 claims or by 29.3 and 8.1 percent respectively on a weekly average basis. Total unemployment claims have been trending upward since mid 1993. 

     Residential construction figures in Table 12 show evidence of a decline in building activity. Residential permits issued, the estimated value of new homes, the number of housing units, and the estimated value of residential alterations were well off the pace of the strong second quarter performance of 1993. These categories were lower by 23, 36, 46, and 37 percent respectively. The only bright spot was the number of alteration permits, up by 10 percent from 1993. 

     Nonresidential construction for second quarter 1994 is given in Table 13. Because of the volatile nature of business investment, no percentage changes are given in the year over comparison. The number of permits issued was 13, the estimated value of new structures came in at $3.5 million, the number of business alteration permits was 36, and the value of business alteration activity topped out at $1.5 million. 

     Financial statistics for the area in Table 14 show that bank deposits declined by $5.3 million or 1.6 percent. Meanwhile, lending activity surged by $44.5 million or 17.0 percent from last year. Thus, from a historical perspective, local area financial institutions experienced a very substantial increase in their loan portfolios.