The economic situation in the Marshfield area continues to be bright. Almost all indicators of economic performance were ahead of last year's pace. The unemployment rate in the county is down, total employment is up, and industrial sector employment, in particular, was quite robust. Thus, favorable economic conditions continue to prevail in the area.

     Industrial sector employment growth was lead by firms in services and trade
(Table 7). Service firms added 500 positions and trade 200 jobs over the past year. The other three major sectors' employment levels remained unchanged during the period. Overall, though, industrial sector employment changed by 1.7 percent for all five sectors combined. The CWERB index for Marshfield estimated that local employment rose by 2.5 percent over the period. This is a good sign for the local population in terms of their future employment prospects.

     Retailer confidence in Table 8 presents the views of local area merchants. This group believes that store traffic and sales were marginally higher than last year. This group also holds the opinion that Christmas retail activity will be moderately better than last year. Thus this group, while not as optimistic as in June, is still upbeat about their financial situation.

     Help wanted advertising rose by 24 points, or 9.9 percent from September 1997 (Table 9). The index tells us there are 2.7 jobs being advertised for every one job in the base year. This also bodes well for local residents who are seeking a job. Further, the index is a barometer of labor market conditions and it tells us that the demand for qualified workers continues to be high. This might also indicate that wage pressures will be building in 1999.

     Public assistance claims data are a measure of local family financial distress (Table 10). Total caseload in the county fell from 2,553 to 2,480, or by nearly 3 percent from last September. Another measure of local conditions is unemployment claims data (Table 11). This quarter's results show that new claims fell from 55 to 51, or 7.3 percent. Further, the number of total unemployment claims contracted from 160 to 155, or 3.1 percent.

     Residential construction activity fell off the pace of a year ago (Table 12). Residential permits issued dropped from 18 to 6, and the associated estimated value of this building activity went from $2.4 million to $1.0 million. Likewise alteration activity was lower this year than last. The number of permits issued fell from 74 to 50 and the value of the construction contracted from $609.9 thousand to $452.9 thousand over the period.

     Due to the volatile nature of nonresidential activity no percentage changes are presented in the table (Table 13). The number of permits issued was 13 and the value was pegged at $2.7 million in 3rd Quarter 1998. Alteration activity to existing business structures went as follows. The number of permits taken out by contractors was 9 and it was estimated to have a value of $708.2 thousand.

     Some very good news is listed in Table 14. Bank deposits rose sharply from $292.2 to $327.1 million in our sample of local financial institutions. This represents a healthy gain of 11.9 percent. Similarly, bank lending shot upwards from $252.8 to $283.2 million, or by a robust 12.0 percent. The gains in the financial numbers for the area were quite impressive.

     Table 15 and Table 16 present the reader with the Clark county economic data. Our rural neighbor to the North experienced increases in manufacturing, trade, construction, and government employment. Only services was lower this year compared to last. The net effect was a gain of about 3.5 percent in industrial sector employment. Further, the unemployment rate fell to just 3.5 percent in Clark county during September.