Central Wisconsin, as defined in this report, consists of Wood, Portage and Marathon Counties. Regional measures of unemployment, employment, employment by sector, employment by key industry and the confidence of regional business executives are con­tained in Tables 2-6.

     The regional unemployment rate is down slightly from a year ago (Table 2). How­ever, this year's improvement is primarily the result of an upward revision of the initial December 1984 estimates. The originally reported unemployment rates for 1984 are almost identical to those for December 1985 estimates. The unusual conclusion is that although the unemployment rate has improved, the labor market is about as strong this year as as initially reported a year ago. In other words, employment conditions in December 1984 were not as encouraging as originally thought. As has been the case throughout much of 1985, employment is little changed from a year ago (Table 3). Modest gains in Portage County are offset by the job losses recorded in Marathon County. Wood County payrolls are virtually unchanged. Wisconsin as a whole has also experienced a reduction in employ­ment compared to a year ago. This partially explains the state government's revenue shortfall.

     Among Central Wisconsin's major sectors only manufacturing shows sizeable payroll gains (Table 4). Manufacturing employment stands 4.8% above the December 1984 level. However, over 50% of this gain is reported to have occurred in the region's food pro­cessing industry. It is the opinion of the bureau that employment estimates for this industry will be revised downward substantially.

     A more accurate picture of the regional economy can been seen by observing the largely flat payroll figures reported in the service, trade and government sectors. Service jobs dropped 1.7% primarily because of losses in transportation. Gains in Wood County trade employment were offset by losses in Portage County, leaving the region's trade payrolls unchanged. Government employment inched up 1.9% due to added employees at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. The volatile construction industry surged 13% over last December but the actual number of jobs added is small.

     With the exception of the suspect food processing estimate, payroll expansion in Central Wisconsin's key industries was negligible (Table 5). The well publicized difficult ties at the region's two major insurance companies pushed financial service employment down 5.3%. The paper and lumber industries reported very modest gains over a year ago.

     Even though the employment figures have yet to record gains in the regional economy, executives with Central Wisconsin's major firms detected improving local conditions (Table 6). The "recent change in local conditions" question of the business confidence survey reached a 1985 high in the fourth quarter. The index has proved to be a fairly reliable leading indicator while employment figures reflect current conditions.