The economic indicators for the Wausau area are as follows for Third Quarter 2002. The unemployment rate, while low, has increased from a year ago; total employment is up from last year, but industrial sector employment figures suggest an overall decline in the number of jobs. In addition, retailers are very upbeat. Sales tax figures however suggest a more modest assessment of the situation. Help wanted advertising has plummeted in the area and for the nation as a whole. Moreover, unemployment claims have shot up for the county. Finally low interest rates continue to spur new residential construction activity.

Table 7 shows industrial sector employment changes for Marathon county. Manufacturing, construction, and government payrolls have all contracted from a year ago. The respective declines in employment were 5.3, 24.3, and 1.3 percent for these sectors. Moreover, the large services sector is unchanged from last year total. Only the trade sector registered an increase in its employment level. Overall industrial sector employment is estimated to have declined by 0.3 percent over the past twelve months. Thus job generation was difficult to come by in the local economy. 

Wausau area retailers, in Table 8, continue to be upbeat about the local retail scene. When asked to assess sales and store traffic they said that both were moderately better than one year ago. However, sales tax data seems to suggest that revenue collections are flat from a year ago. Their forecast for future sales and store traffic during the crucial Christmas selling season calls for marked increases over last year's total. Only time will tell if this forecast comes to fruition. 

Help wanted advertising in the area continues to plunge. Table 9 shows that the Wausau area index fell from 99 to 66 over the past year. A drop of about one third. More importantly the index shows that there are only 66 positions being advertised for every 100 positions in the base year. This would indicate continued problems in labor market. Businesses are indicating a reluctance to hire new workers until such time as there is a substantial increase in the demand for their products. Likewise, the U.S. is experiencing similar labor market problems.  

The unemployment claim information in Table 10 shows that there has been a substantial increase in the level of local family distress. New claims on a weekly average basis rose from 241 to 291, a gain of 20.7 percent. Moreover, total unemployment claims have climbed from 1,541 to 2,069 over the past twelve months, which means a 34.3 percent surge in claim activity. Again we have an indication that the economy appears to be affected by the employment picture. 

However, the dollar amount of construction activity in Table 11 shows that the economy has kept pace with last year's hot performance. Please note, percentage changes increases may not appear large because last year's figures were so robust. The number of permits issued rose 1.1 percent, but the value of this activity jumped by a very healthy 28.6 percent. The number of housing permits increased by 0.9 percent over the same period. The number of residential permits, while substantial, fell below the total of last year, a decline of 3.3 percent. Lastly the value of alteration activity is estimated to be 2.6 percent above the mark in 2001. In sum the residential housing scene continues to do extremely well.

 In Table 12 percent changes are not given due to the volatility nature of nonresidential activity. In other words a major project can cause the numbers to fluctuate a great deal from year to year. The number of permits issued was 11 and they are estimated to have a value of $21.9 million. Large new projects in the area include an increase to a local insurance firm, the construction of the municipal parking structure, and a major addition to a hospital. The number of business alteration permits was 54 and they had an estimated value of $6.5 million. Coincidently the number of alteration permits and the estimate value for 2002 is almost identical to the levels recorded in 2001.