In general the local area economy posted good results for third quarter 1993. Total employment expanded by 3000 persons to 36,400. At the same time, the seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate slid to 3.5 percent, which is well below what is normally considered to represent full employment. In other words, it is expected that some workers in an economy will be temporarily between jobs for personal reasons and that some workers will become unemployed due to structural adjustments in the economy, for example a change in technology or merger activity. Please note, that the unemployment rate does not capture underemployment or underutilization of workers. Almost every indicator of local area economic health was positive in a year over comparison. However, as noted in the Overview, there has been a long‑term increase in the number of persons requiring public assistance. 

     Portage County employment figures in Table 7 show that each and every sector expanded from a year ago. Respectively, for manufacturing, services, trade, construction, and government the job increases were 700, 900, 300, 330, and 500. The total increase of 2730 persons to area payrolls represents a very healthy growth rate of 9.3 percent. Further, since the mid 1980's, manufacturing employment in the county has grown on a seasonally adjusted basis from approximately 4500 to 5800 persons or by 28 percent. Likewise, on a seasonally adjusted basis, services, trade, construction, and government payrolls have grown by approximately 40, 30, 50, and 10 percent respectively in Portage County during the same time period.
 

     Retailer confidence is depicted in Table 8. Our panel of local merchants is decidedly more upbeat about the economy regardless of whether we are considering the recent past or the near future. When asked about store traffic and sales compared to last year at the same time, our retailers said that matters were noticeably better than a year ago. The marks of 73 for both questions are quite high from a historic standpoint and do represent a decided rebound in confidence. This group was even more upbeat about the future. They expect sales and store traffic three months from now as compared to last year at the same time to be much higher. It should be pointed out that the rebound in confidence for both current and future sales and store tragic reverses a downward trend in confidence that commenced in late 1992.

    
     Help wanted advertising for the Stevens Point area, Table 9, rose by approximately 20 percent from a year ago. This barometer of local labor market conditions tells us that there are 25 jobs being advertised for every one job in third quarter 1980. However, it is important to note that the index does not measure job quality, for instance part‑time vs. full‑time positions. On a seasonally adjusted basis the index bottomed out in first quarter 1992 and has been trending upward over the past seven quarters. 
 

     Public assistance claims in Portage County are presented in Table 10. New applications on a monthly average basis fell from 142 to 102, a decline of 28 percent. Moreover, the total caseload on a monthly average basis contracted from 1825 to 1630, a decline of nearly 11 percent. Thus, in a year over comparison, this measure of local family financial distress shows improvement for the area. However, the seasonally adjusted long‑term trend in total caseload has been trending upward since fourth quarter 1990 suggesting that the number of financially distressed individuals has been increasing in the area. 

     Unemployment claims data in Table 11 is another measure of financial distress. The year over comparison shows new claims on a weekly average basis falling from 44 to 36 or 18 percent. The total claims figure on a weekly average basis tumbled from 125 to 111 or 11.2 percent. On a seasonally adjusted basis, the long‑term secular trend appears to have reversed itself and is now declining after rising for about two years. This is good news for the area. likewise, new claims have been trending downward since mid 1992 on a seasonally adjusted basis. 

     Good news comes from the residential construction scene (Table 12). Low interest rates, availability of affordable land, a steadily increasing population, and a healthy local economy have come together to produce another period of brisk construction activity. Each and every category of construction bested last year's high totals. Residential permits issued, the estimated value of new homes, the number of units, the number of alteration permits issued, and the estimated value of residential alterations were respectively 11, 24,18, 21, and 25 percent above third quarter 1992. 

     Nonresidential construction activity is presented in Table 13. This type of activity is very irregular in nature. In other words, this activity can be characterized as being high cost and singular in nature. This implies that large swings in the dollar amount are the rule rather than the exception. Therefore, no percentage changes are presented in Table 13. The number of permits was 8, the estimated value of the new structures $4.3 million. Further there were 40 different alteration projects totaling $2.4 million.
 

     Financial statistics for the area in Table 14 show that bank deposits expanded by a scant 0.7 percent or by about $2 million from last year. As mentioned previously, it is believed that banks as well as other financial institutions are attracting dollars out of deposits and into their mutual funds by promising higher returns to the investor. This trend has been well documented at the national level. Bank lending remains robust in the area. Loans increased from $259.9 million to $273.4 million, a gain of approximately 5.2 percent. This amount even understates the amount of lending to the extent that banks sell loans in the secondary market in order to replenish their local lending ability.