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Even though seasonally unadjusted unemployment rates edged higher, this
quarter's rate it is still at a very low 3.7 percent rate.
In addition total employment estimates, which are based on a household
survey, suggest payrolls grew by 3.5 percent. Also the employer-based
survey of nonfarm employment growth reports that a 1.2 percent expansion took
place since 2002 (Table 7). In sum, retailer confidence has become more upbeat about the
future, help wanted advertising was stable from a year ago, public assistance
was much higher, and construction activity was very robust.
Portage county industrial sector employment is presented with a high level of
detail in Table 7. Overall nonfarm employment increased by 1.2 percent from
September 2002 to September 2003. Manufacturing
contracted by 7.5 percent from a year ago.
In addition construction and national resources, and transportation and
utilities suffered declining payrolls. Even
though the percentage declines were large, the absolute decline in jobs was
small. According to the state all
other industrial sectors reported increasing payrolls from a year ago.
Local merchants' feelings about retail activity are given in Table
8. The merchants in our
survey indicate that store sales are at about the same level as a year ago.
Store traffic, however, was judged to be slightly lower than a comparable time
last year. This group was asked
to forecast retail activity levels during the crucial Christmas selling
period. This panel was fairly upbeat in predicting that both sales and store
traffic would be markedly better this year when compared to 2002.
This bodes well for the local economy.
A barometer of the local labor market is help wanted advertising (Table
9). The index is only
slightly below last years figure. The
same thing can be said for the nation's help wanted index. For Stevens Point the mark of 98 means that there are 98
positions listed for every 100 positions in the base year.
Much more striking is the national index.
Nationally there are only 37 positions being advertised for every 100
positions in the base year. This
clearly indicates that business firms have been reluctant to expand their
payrolls at the national level.
Public assistance claim data in Table 10 shows some
rather large increases taking place. The
number of new applications on a monthly average basis rose from 135 to 206 or
52 percent from a year ago. Likewise
the total caseload number rose from 2,807 to 3,664 or by nearly 31 percent
from last year. Another measure
of local family financial distress is the number of unemployment claims.
The figures in Table 11 indicate the number of unemployment claims fell
from 165 to 158 or by 4.2 percent on a weekly average basis.
Total claims fell from 1,281 to 1,241 or by about 3.1 percent.
The information in Tables 10 and 11
possibly suggests that there has been an increase in the number of working
poor in our area.
Residential construction activity continues to be a real bright spot for the
local economy (Table 12).
Residential permits issued total 72.
This is only one less than last year's exceptionally robust mark.
However, the estimated value of this year's construction activity was
estimated to be nearly 33 percent higher than in 2002.
The number of housing units reached 112 during the third quarter, a 12
percent gain. Similarly the
number of residential alterations permits climbed by about 7 percent. Lastly, the estimated value of the alteration activity is
said to be approximately 21 percent higher this year compared to last.
Nonresidential construction is presented without percentage change (Table
13). This is because
nonresidential construction tends to be a volatile figure that can fluctuate
greatly from year to year. This
year's building reports indicate that there were 9 projects with an
estimated value of nearly $5 million. This
compares favorably to last year's marks.
Meanwhile the number of business alteration permits was 40 and the
value was estimated at $722 thousand. The
alteration activity was well below the levels of last year. |
