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The Marshfield area economy continued to expand
during third quarter 1988. As evidence of this, the unemployment rate for the
county stood at 4.3 percent. Not since the 1970s have unemployment rates been so
low and total employment for the county is at an all time high. In addition, the
Marshfield
employment index indicates that the city has also achieved record employment.
The CWERB estimate is that local employment grew by a respectable 2.4 percent
during the year.
Many factors, such as the responses of regional business persons and local
retailers, suggest that the local economy should continue to grow. Furthermore,
the help wanted advertising index foretells of expanding payrolls. On the down
side, residential construction is not as robust as last year. However, local
financial statistics are consistent with those of an expanding economy.
Wood
County major
industrial sector employment figures are presented in Table 7. Services, trade,
and construction payrolls expanded from a year ago. While service sectors gained
140 positions and trade and construction grew by 100 and 190 respectively,
manufacturing and government employment contracted from last year's levels. The
primary cause for the downturn in manufacturing was the plant closings in the Wisconsin Rapids area, e.g. Preway and
Sterling Engineered Products. Overall, Wood County
major sector employment fell by .47 percent or 170 positions. As no regularly
published employment data exist for the city of Marshfield,
the CWERB constructs a Marshfield
employment index. This method of estimation indicates a 2.4 percent increase in
Marshfield
employment over the past year.
To gauge local consumer spending, a retailer survey is conducted by the CWERB (Table
8).
Total sales and store traffic are judged to be somewhat better than a year ago
according to this group. Moreover, local retailers believe that sales and store
traffic three months from now when compared to a year ago will be higher in
volume. The results of the survey suggest that third quarter activity was higher
than a year ago and that expansion can be expected in retail activity.
Table 9 is the CWERB's help wanted advertising index. This index measures local
labor market conditions. The data show that approximately two and a half jobs
were being advertised in September 1988 for everyone position advertised in
September of 1980. The 245 measurement is the highest mark ever recorded
regardless of the time of year. Furthermore, there has been a 29 percent jump in
job advertising from third quarter 1987. Thus,
Marshfield
payrolls should be expanding in the months ahead. Unfortunately, the index is
not designed to generate information about the quality of the jobs being
advertised. This type of information is more difficult to obtain. -.,.
More encouraging information comes from Table 10 and
Table 11. Together they give a
measure of local family financial distress. Public assistance claims in Marshfield are significantly lower than last
year for both new applications and total caseload. And unemployment claims
filed, both initial and total, are down. The data tell of an improving
situation, but for a variety of reasons there are still a few individuals who
have not benefited from the local expansion.
Residential construction (Table 12) is a leading economic indicator.
Construction activity was lower in all five categories. However, residential
construction is a function of many variables - population growth, interest
rates, income levels, etc., and population growth is one of the more important
determinants of this type of activity.
Where population growth is moderate, as in the case of
Marshfield, residential construction activity will likely
also be moderate. Nonresidential construction information is given in
Table 13.
The number of permits and the estimated value of new nonresidential construction
were lower than a year ago. However, the number and value of business alteration
permits were higher. Nonresidential construction total can be volatile because
one or two major projects can have a substantial influence on the totals. For
this reason we do not calculate the year-to-year percentage change.
Financial statistics for the
Marshfield area
are presented in Table 14. Local deposits were up by nearly $10 million from
last year. This reflects the fact that conditions for the past couple of years
have been favorable for the area. Bank loans were nearly 16 percent or $20
million higher. Higher loan activity is usually associated with an expanding
economy. Thus, together the statistics indicate that the local economy has been
in an expansive mode.
Clark County employment statistics also can
be found in Table 15 and Table 16.
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