A summary of the economic indicators report for the greater Wausau area shows the following conditions existing in the area. The unemployment rate is lower than a year ago, but total employment remains unchanged. Sales tax collections are above last year's mark and local retailer confidence remains upbeat. Industrial sector employment is about 1.0 percent higher than a year ago. However, help wanted advertising and unemployment claims data suggests that the local economy may be slowing down. 

     Employment in the services, trade, construction, and government sectors increased from last year (Table 7). Services and trade grew by 2.2 and 1.8 percent respectively. Likewise, construction and government added 8.8 and 1.3 percent to their payrolls. However, the decline in manufacturing of 2.6 percent helped to offset most of the gain registered in the other sectors. In sum, total industrial sector employment rose ever so slightly from 70.2 thousand to 70.9 thousand, which represents an overall net increase of about 1.0 percent. 

     The CWERB survey of Wausau area merchants is given in Table 8. Bucking the trend in the other two Central Wisconsin counties, Wausau area merchants maintained a high level of optimism in regard to store traffic and sales. Furthermore, the members of this survey remained fairly upbeat in assessing future retail activity. It should be noted, however, that the level of optimism expressed in September is slightly lower than what was registered in June of this year. 

     A measure of hiring plans on the part of local businesses is shown in Table 9. Wausau help advertising fell from 177 to 99 or a drop of 44 percent. Likewise, the national help wanted advertising index declined from 78 to 53, or by 32 percent. The decline in help wanted advertising is a signal that businesses are less optimistic about future profitability and sales. 

     An important measure of local family distress is unemployment claim information (Table 10). New claims on a weekly average basis rose from 209 to 241. This represents a sharp 15.3 percent gain in new claims. Even more dramatic was the expansion in total claims. Total claims on a weekly average basis climbed from 1,136 to 1,541 or by 36 percent. Clearly layoffs at area employers have contributed to the increase in local family financial distress. 

     Residential construction in the greater Wausau area has held up fairly well over the course of the year (Table 11). The number of residential permits issued increased by 2.4 percent. However, the estimated value of this activity is about 13 percent below last year's level. The number of housing units being constructed during Third Quarter was 15 percent higher than a year ago. In addition the number of alteration permits climbed from 330 to 362 or by 9.7 percent. The estimated value of the alteration activity is approximately 9.4 percent above last year's mark. Low financing rates have helped this situation.

     Nonresidential construction is given without percentage change (Table 12). This activity can change dramatically from year to year and the totals can be greatly influenced by a major project. The number of permits issued was 18 compared to 13 a year ago. This estimated value of the new construction reached 10.2 million up from 4.3 in the year 2000. The number of business alterations permits was 59 this year as contrasted with 58 of a year ago. The value of this year's business alteration activity is listed at 6.3 million. Last year 8.4 million worth of business alteration activity took place.