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A summary of the economic
variables for Wisconsin Rapids is as follows. The unemployment rate in Wood County declined from 5.3 to 4.9
percent over the past twelve months. Total employment in the county was
virtually unchanged. Similarly the number of nonfarm jobs was for all intent
and purposes unchanged from a year ago. Public assistance claims and
unemployment claims are well below last year's marks. Lastly figures 1 through
6 show how the Wood County economy has fared over
the 1990-2004 time frame.
Table 7
gives a detailed presentation of Wood
County employment change by major industrial sector. This data is compiled by
the government from a survey of business firm payroll data. Total nonfarm
employment is estimated to have declined by 0.4 percent from last year.
Declines in manufacturing employment continued to be a drag on the economy; it
was down by 5.4 percent from last year. Also, trade has declined by an
estimated 2.8 percent over the period. It is clear that problems associated
with the paper industry in south Wood County are driving these results
and are also influencing the trade numbers. However, the good news is that just
about every other sector in Wood County experienced a decent
amount of job expansion. For example, transportation and utilities, education
and health services, leisure and hospitality, and information and business all
posted job gains.
Figure 1
shows how paper manufacturing employment has trended over the past number of
years. The high point in employment came around 1997 when almost 52,500 people
were employed. At the beginning of 2005 the number of people employed
contracted to around 38,000. The decline of about 15,000 positions reflects the
difficult economic conditions facing the paper manufacturing industry in
Wisconsin. Slumps in worldwide demand and cheap imports have played a key role
in this situation.
The help wanted advertising index
for the Wisconsin Rapids area is given in Table 8. In
December the reading stood at 73. This means there was .73 of a position being
advertised for every 1.00 position advertised in the base year. There was no
number for the year 2003 because the CWERB commenced collecting data on
advertising in 2004. The amount of advertising at the national level remains at
a low level, at a mark of 36.
Table 9
presents some good news for the area in terms of a reduction in family financial
distress. Public Assistance claims on a monthly average basis declined from 104
to 91 or about 12.5 percent in our year over comparison. More good news comes
in table 10. Unemployment claims in Wood
County are much lower than one year ago (Table 10). New
claims on a weekly average fell from 359 to 279 for a percentage decrease of
22.3. Likewise total claims dropped sharply from 1,670 to 1,247 or by 25.3
percent. Perhaps these measures of local family distress signal a more robust
economic situation in the near future.
Figure 2
presents Wisconsin average weekly earnings in paper and allied products
manufacturing. The latest figures available suggest a rebound has taken place
in earnings. Earnings per week are now about $825 per week. This represents an
improvement from around $800 per week from a couple of years ago. The chart
also shows that from 1998 the level of weekly earnings has been fairly flat.
This of course reflects the overall economic condition of the industry and the
difficult times it has faced in recent years. Hopefully the rebound in the
national and world economy will help to correct this situation.
Figure 3
shows the historic trend for Wood County employment. In addition
the employment level in Wood has been trending upward over the latter part of
2004. Figure 4 shows the seasonal fluctuations of
unemployment in the county, and Figure 5 gives the
unemployment rate movements since 1990. Currently the rate is below 5 percent.
Lastly, Figure 6 shows that the labor force continues its
upward trend in the county which should bode well for area employers in search
of additional workers. All of these figures paint a comprehensive picture of
the employment situation in Wood County from 1990 to the present. |
