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The
economic indicators in this section of the report will show that there has
been a slowing in the rate of economic activity in Central Wisconsin.
This slow down corresponds to the reported difficulty that is being
experienced by the national economy.
Unemployment
rates throughout the region and state were markedly higher than one year ago (Table
2).
However, even though the unemployment rates have risen, they are still
at relatively low levels. Portage,
Marathon, and Wood Counties' seasonally unadjusted unemployment rates were
3.2, 3.0, and 3.9 respectively. The
state rate was also at a very low 3.0 percent level.
In our year over comparison, the U.S. unemployment rate remained
unchanged at 3.7 percent.
Employment
growth from Fourth Quarter 1999 to Fourth Quarter 2000 was hard to come by in
our reporting categories
(Table
3). Portage
and Wood County total employment figures are estimated to be 0.8 and 0.3
percent lower than a year ago. Marathon
County managed to expand employment by 1.0 percent over the same period.
Wisconsin did not fare any better by adding only 0.6 percent to its
payrolls.
Central
Wisconsin industrial sector employment growth has also slowed dramatically
from earlier periods
(Table
4). Manufacturing,
trade, and government payrolls have contracted by 0.9, 0.3, and 1.0 percent
since last year. Only services
and construction employment are estimated to have grown from a year ago.
Services registered a 6.1 percent gain and construction a gain of 1.6
percent.
Retail
sales tax collections were much above last year's totals
(Table
5).
Portage County collections rose from $940.0 thousand to $1,031.7
thousand over the past twelve months, a gain of 9.8 percent.
Likewise, Marathon County posted a healthy increase in retail activity
when its collections rose from $1,975.7 thousand to $2,198.7 thousand, or by
11.3 percent during the year. Thus,
during the October to December time frame, consumers in the area continued to
spend at a rapid rate. It will be
interesting to monitor their behavior during the first part of 2001 to see if
local consumers curtail their spending.
The
CWERB poll of regional business leaders paints a very interesting picture of
what is taking place in the economy
(Table 6). Recent
changes at the national and local level have raised a noticeable level of
concern. This group believes that
economic conditions have taken a turn for the worse.
The panel is slightly more optimistic about the future than they were
last quarter. However, the marks
given to the expected change in national and industry conditions were still
not in the optimistic range.
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