The Marshfield‑Wood county area has experienced a great deal of economic growth over the past twelve months. Highlights of this quarter's report include: a very low unemployment rate for the area: an estimated 8.5 percent increase in total employment: a nearly 5.0 percent increase in industrial sector payrolls: increased optimism on the part of local merchants; and a 43 percent jump in help wanted advertising since June of 1995. 

     Strong labor market conditions are evident in Wood county (Table 7). Industrial sector employment rose by a very robust 1.900 positions or 4.7 percent in the year over comparison with Second Quarter 1995. Strength was widespread throughout the economy. Services sector growth was particularly impressive during Second Quarter. Likewise, manufacturing and government payrolls were well above last year's totals as presented in Table 7.
 

     Retail sector activity represents the last phase in the economic process, that is, it represents the consumption of goods or services by the final user (Table 8). It is, therefore, of great importance to monitor conditions in this sector. The sentiments of local merchants with regard to activity have turned upwards. Retailers are decidedly more optimistic about sales and store traffic than last quarter. Further, they are much more upbeat with regard to future activity when their responses are compared to last quarter.
 

     Another indicator of how the strong Wood county employment situation has been the steep rise in the amount of help wanted advertising (Table 9). The index rose dramatically from 231 to 332 or by approximately 44 percent since last year. However, one must remember that firms located outside of the area are advertising in the local area in the hope of finding qualified workers. Nonetheless, the index paints a bright picture of the job situation for qualified workers.
 

     Public assistance claims in Wood county are not yet available for initial applications (Table 10). Software changes at the state level are preventing the timely release of these data. However, total caseload figures are available and show that little change took place in the county over the course of the past twelve months. In Wood County, the total caseload figure includes assistance in the form of AFDC, MA, and food stamps. Therefore, one individual may be represented several or more times in this figure if they receive more than one type of aid.
 

     Even though the local labor market appears to be on solid footing there are instances of layoffs (Table 11). The number of new unemployment claims rose from 34 to 65 since last year. This upward movement in new claims has been going on for about the past three quarters. Similarly there was a jump in the total claims and this again reinforces the trend taking place in the series. 

     Residential construction is affected by a number of factors such as interest rates, population changes, and income growth (Table 12). Thus, construction activity gives us valuable insight into economic health of the beat community. The number of Residential permits issued was 12 with an estimated value of $1.4 million. Dollar‑wise, this represents a 15 percent gain. The number of housing units and the number of alteration permits issued were unchanged from last year remaining at 14 and 85 respectively. However, a very substantial gain was registered in the estimated value of residential alterations, 28 percent. The trend to "fix‑up" existing structures remains popular among homeowners as an alternative to buying a new house. 

     The nonresidential constriction are by nature volatile (Table 13). Large projects can cause the number to swing widely from year to year, therefore, percent changes are not given. This quarter's results show that there were 15 permits issued with an estimated value of nearly E1.0 million. The level of alteration activity shows there were 11 projects undertaken by area firms with an estimated value of $3.2 million. The largest part of this figure is associated with the interior remodeling of St. Joseph's Hospital.
 

     Table 14 presents financial statistics for the Marshfield area. Deposit and lending data give additional insight into how the local economy is performing. Bank deposits expanded from $288.5 to $273.0 million, or by just 1.7 percent. Moreover, bank loans in the area expanded from $227.0 to $227.8 million, or by a scant 0.4 percent. In recent past quarters the pace of growth has been more substantial for both categories. 

     Clark county economic data appears in Table 15. The result for this quarter shows that all Clark's industrial sectors expanded except for government. Manufacturing and trade led the expansion growing by 5.5 percent each. Table 16 displays additional data for rural Clark county. The unemployment rate is now significantly lower than last year and the total number of people employed edged up ever so slightly by 0.5 percent from 1995. Thus, this important market area for Marshfield area businesses continued to move forward, albeit by a small margin.