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The regional economy of
Central Wisconsin continues to do well despite the national recession.
Employment levels and the unemployment rates in the three counties all suggest
that the national recession is being weathered in good fashion. As mentioned in
previous reports, this geographical area and the
Midwest in general should fare
much better during this recession than during the last one of the early 1980s.
The financial excesses and industrial sector difficulties indigenous to other
parts of the country are, to a large extent, nonexistent in Central Wisconsin.
However, given the interconnectedness and high degree of industrial integration
of the national economy, we should remain alert for signs of the recession
creeping into our area economy.
The unemployment rates in the counties of
Central Wisconsin
rose sharply from last year's levels. Still, the rates of unemployment remain
well below those of the state and nation, underscoring the assertion that the
recession has been felt much more severely in other parts of the country, e.g.
New York and California. Table 2 shows that the Central
Wisconsin labor force weighted average unemployment rate stands at 4.5 percent.
During the last recession in the early 1980s the unemployment rate was above 12
percent.
Once again the data for this quarter clearly indicate that the regional economy
has largely avoided the worst effects of the national downturn,
Table 3. Marathon, Wood, and Portage Counties all
experienced employment growth from one year ago. Employment was higher by
approximately 3000 positions or 2.1 percent. In contrast, employment at the
state and national levels fell by 1.8 percent and 0.5 percent respectively. A
word of caution may be in order as the regional economy tends to lag the state
and nation, so it will be most interesting to see if this trend continues or
this time around.
Nonfarm total employment is given in Table 4. Here too, we
see evidence that, growth has taken place in the regional economy, despite the
recession. In third quarter 1990 there were 122.3 thousand individuals employed
in the area. By third quarter 1991 that number had risen to 123.6 thousand, a
gain of 1.3 thousand or 1.1 percent. It should be noted that nondurable goods
manufacturing in Portage
County
increased by an estimated 2000 since last July. This reported gain may be
subject to revision in the months ahead.
Table 5 shows that the key industries of
Central Wisconsin have all posted respectable gains over the course of
the year. Paper products established an all‑time high for third quarter with
10.2 thousand people on local payrolls. Lumber and wood products, and finance,
insurance, and real estate posted gains of 1.9 and 7.9 percent respectively.
Food processing, a component of nondurable manufacturing, was a big winner this
time with approximately 2000 more people employed in the area than one year ago.
However, as previously mentioned, this figure is likely to be revised downward
in months ahead. Overall key sector employment in our region grew by nearly 3000
jobs or 10 percent from last year. This is most encouraging given that these
industries, to a large extent, represent the export portion of the regional
economy.
The CWERB survey of local business leaders tells us that this group believes the
local economy is about the same as last year and that the national economy is
showing signs of a little more vigor (Table 6). When asked
about the future, this panel expressed the belief that the national economy was
coming out of the recession, albeit at a sluggish pace and that the regional
economy and their industries would be picking up momentum in the months ahead.
This, of course, is welcome news for our area. |
