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Table 7 Table 8 Table
9 Table 10 Table
11 Table 12 Table
13
The Wausau area economy continues
to perform well. The unemployment rate is at an amazingly
low 1.8 percent. Moreover, total employment increased
by 1.3 percent. This is very impressive given the
tight labor market conditions that exist. In sum,
the data will show that the economy continues to grow at
a steady but modest pace.
Marathon county industrial
sector employment has increased by 1,300 positions or 1.9
percent over the course of the year
(Table 7). Specifically,
services, trade, and construction added 800, 800, and 100
positions, respectively, over the time period. However,
manufacturing and government payrolls contracted by 300
and 100 jobs each. In sum, the number of people employed
in all of these sectors reached 68.2 thousand in Third Quarter
1999.
Retailer confidence remains
at an elevated level for the Wausau area
(Table 8). Our panel
of local merchants indicates that store traffic and sales
were ahead of the totals of last year. This group
forecasts a strong Christmas selling season. Given
the sales tax figures of an earlier table, one can conclude
that the retail activity in the local area is very robust.
Help wanted advertising fell
by 7 points from last year
(Table 9). However the 149 mark still
means there are plenty of firms seeking qualified workers.
This index tells us there are about 1.5 jobs being advertised
for each one in the base period. The U.S. index actually
declined over the course of the year, falling from 92 to
87.
Good news comes in the form
of the unemployment claim data for Wausau
(Table 10). On a weekly
average basis, new unemployment claims contracted from 148
to 137, a decline of 7.4 percent. In addition, total
claims on a weekly average basis fell from 1,036 to 982.
This represents a decline of about 5 percent since last
year.
Residential construction has
been very strong in the local area
(Table 11). However, this
quarter fell off the hot pace of last year. Residential
permits issued fell by 28.7 percent and the value of these
permits, likewise, declined by 26.0 percent. Alteration
activity was also off the pace of last year. The number
of permits fell by about 11 percent and their estimated
value was down by 6.6 percent.
Nonresidential construction
is presented without percentage change due to the inherent
volatility of the series
(Table 12). Large projects this time
included the construction of a $1 million expansion of a
manufacturing company. Alteration actually was dominated
by a $3 million addition to the local water utility.
Another major alteration, $1.8 million, comes in the form
of a local school remodeling.
Table 13 presents data on
financial statistics for the local area. The 1998
and 1997 figures are not compatible due to a rash of mergers.
Therefore, all we can report are the amounts for 1999.
Bank lending reached $1.8 billion and bank deposits climbed
to $2.1 billion in the report. Comparability will
be restored in future periods.
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