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To summarize economic conditions in the
region, please consider the following. The seasonally unadjusted unemployment
rate in central Wisconsin declined to 3.6 percent over the year. Total
employment based on a survey of households grew by 0.8 percent in the region.
Industrial sector employment, based on a survey of employers is estimated to
have expanded by 0.5 percent. In addition county sales tax data rose by 5.5
and 10.7 percent in Portage and Marathon counties, respectively. Lastly,
regional business leaders are moderately optimistic about economic
conditions.
The unemployment rates for all reporting
areas fell from last year's marks (Table 2). The
unemployment rates in Marathon, Portage, and Wood counties declined to 3.2,
3.5, and 4.3 percent respectively. The labor force weighted unemployment rate
for central Wisconsin tumbled from 3.9 to 3.6 percent over the past twelve
months. The state and nation also registered nice declines in their
unemployment rates shrinking to 4.1 and 5.1 respectively.
Total employment estimates are based on a
survey of households (Table 3). The employment levels
in Marathon, Portage, and Wood counties changed respectively by 0.7, 0.8, and
0.0 percent over the year. This results in a 0.5 percent gain in employment
for central Wisconsin as whole. Thus a very modest degree of expansion took
place in the area's employment. Wisconsin and the nation expanded more
quickly growing by 1.5 and 1.4 percent.
Table 4 gives
industrial sector employment estimates, which are generated from business
payroll data. Total nonfarm employment expanded by 0.5 percent over the
course of the year. Employment rose from an estimated 149.1 to 149.8
thousand. Sectors that experienced expanding employment include construction
and natural resources, transportation and utilities, education and health
services, leisure and hospitality, and information and business services.
Declining sectoral employment was reported for manufacturing, trade, financial
activities, and government.
County sales tax distributions are given in
Table 5. Portage county sales tax collections grew from
$1.18 to $1.25 million or 5.5 percent over the year. Likewise, Marathon
county retail activity expanded from $2.55 to $2.82 million or by 10.7
percent. Both measures suggest that consumers are continuing to bolster the
economy with their spending.
The CWERB's sample of local business leaders
in central Wisconsin suggest that the business community believes that modest
improvement has taken place in the national economy, and local area (Table
6). Generally speaking they are more upbeat about these matters than in
June. When asked about the future direction for the national economy, local
economy, and their industry the consensus was that we should see a slight
improvement in economic conditions. Even though this group is moderately
optimistic about the future levels of activity, sentiment is generally lower
than what it was in June. |
