Industrial sector employment expanded by about 1.0 percent from a year ago (Table 7).  Services and trade sectors were higher than a year ago, 300 and 200 positions respectively.  Government payrolls were allegedly higher by 600 positions, more likely the result of counting teachers in the totals.  Manufacturing is estimated to be about 800 positions lower than last year, and construction payrolls were unchanged since 1998.

     Local merchants, while generally upbeat about the local retail scene, are somewhat less optimistic than they were in June (Table 8).  Total sales and store traffic compared to one year ago are both judged to be moderately better.  Their expectations about the future were more optimistic than their assessment of recent activity.  Nonetheless, the panel of local retailers is less upbeat than in June when it comes to forecasting future activity. 

     Help wanted advertising remains exceedingly robust in the local area (Table 9).  Clearly a good portion of the advertising is coming from out-of-area firms.  Nonetheless, this bodes well for local people seeking employment.  The mark of 322 suggests there are 3.2 jobs being advertised for each job in the base year.  This barometer of labor market conditions suggests there is a strong demand for skilled and trained workers.  Many analysts feel that labor shortages throughout the state are holding back business expansions.

     Public assistance claims in Portage County have reached a plateau (Table 10).  The number of new applications on a monthly average basis remains at 106 cases.  Total caseload is up by 5.5 percent.  Another measure of family financial distress is unemployment claim data (Table 11).  The number of new claims on a weekly average basis was virtually unchanged from a year ago.  During the same period total claims are estimated to have gone up by 4, i.e., 132 to 136.

     Residential construction in the greater Stevens Point-Plover area remained at a high level of activity (Table 12).  The number of permits was 60 and the estimated value of the construction was $7.5 million.  The number of residential alteration permits issued, while high, fell short of last year's figure.  There were 228 permits given out and they were valued at $1.3 million.

     Nonresidential construction in the area went as follows (Table 13).  There were 12 major permits issued with a total value of $6.4 million.  Alteration activity, while not as strong as the previous year, experienced 46 permits issued with an estimated value of $2.6 million.  Percentage changes between years are not given due to the volatile nature of the activities.

     Financial statistics for Portage County are given in Table 14.  The amount of bank deposits grew by a healthy 7.7 percent.  This represents an expansion from $278.8 to $300.4 million.  Bank lending grew by an even more dramatic fashion, climbing from $319.0 to $356.3 million or by 11.7 percent.  Both lending and deposit numbers represent healthy economic conditions.