The economic performance of the Wausau area was once again positive. Fourth quarter 1993 was characterized by improvement in most indicators of financial health and economic well‑being. Examples include a growing number of people employed in the county along with a falling seasonally unadjusted unemployment rate. In particular, industrial sector employment growth was quite brisk with about 2200 jobs being added to local payrolls. Retailers say the past Christmas selling season was strong and they expect shopping to be noticeably better during the first part of 1994. Help wanted advertising continues to climb as it has over the past few years, and total unemployment claims data were greatly improved for the same time period. Residential construction activity was substantial even though it was off the very strong pace of a year ago. Nonresidential construction, however, was well above last year's marks. With a large amount of proposed development in the Wausau‑Rib Mountain area, and other possible local economic indicators, it appears that the region will continue to grow at a sure and steady pace. 

     Table 7 gives industrial sector employment figures for Marathon County. Service employment was up by 1100, trade by 1000, and construction by 300 positions respectively. Manufacturing and government payrolls were each lower by approximately 100 positions over the past twelve months. Overall, industrial sector employment expanded by 4.4 percent from 54,700 to 56,900, an increase of 2200 positions. From a historic perspective, the important category of manufacturing employment has increased from about 14,000 to nearly 15,000 since first quarter 1989. However, during the same time span, service sector employment rose from 15,000 to around 18,000 on a seasonally adjusted basis. 

     The CWERB's retailer confidence survey results are displayed in Table 8. This group of merchants was very upbeat with regard to the Christmas shopping season. With regard to store traffic and sales, the marks given by this panel were 71 and 72. This is a very positive assessment of local retail conditions. Since fourth quarter 1990, the marks given to these two questions has steadily risen. When this group was queried concerning the future they forecast that store traffic and sales will be much above the levels of one year ago. This is a positive indicator for the area's economy. Since third quarter 1991 merchants expectations concerning the retail sector have been on a decidedly upward path. 

     Help wanted advertising has continued its rebound from a low of around 150 during fourth quarter 1991 (Table 9). Currently, the index stands at 212, up from 189 from last year. This positive development bodes well for the area's labor market. Further, the reading of 212 tells us that there are 2.1 jobs currently being advertised for every one job in the base year of 1980. The U.S. index also rose from 94 to 106 indicating new vigor in the national economy. It should be pointed out, however, that these indices do not differentiate between high and low paying jobs nor between part‑time versus full‑time positions. Nonetheless, such a sustained increase is encouraging for the area. 

     New public assistance claims data for the Wausau area were virtually unchanged from last year (Table 10). On a monthly average basis, new claims rose from 14 to 15, and total caseload was up from 67 to 77. To put these numbers into perspective, for first quarter 1989 total claims stood near 110. Thus, there has been quite an overall improvement in this indicator of economic health. 

     Unemployment claim data in Table 11 also shows that much improvement has taken place in the area economy. New claims on a weekly average basis are down from 398 to 312, or 21.6 percent from last year. Likewise, total claims fell from 1788 to 1586, a contraction of 11.3 percent. Additionally, the total number of unemployment claims has been trending downward since third quarter 1992 when the seasonally adjusted number of total claims stood at approximately 2500. 

     Residential building activity, while down in most categories from last year, remained brisk (Table 12). It should be noted that fourth quarter of 1992 was a very strong period for residential construction. For fourth quarter 1993, residential permits reached 68 with an estimated value of $7.25 million for 90 housing units. Furthermore, 147 alteration permits valued at $651 thousand were issued. Of the five categories for residential construction, only the first, the number of residential permits issued, exceeded last year's lofty mark. 

     Very good news for the area is presented in Table 13. Nonresidential construction activity was well above last year. However, no percentage changes are given in the year over comparison because of the inherent volatility of these categories of construction activity. For the record, there were 14 building permits issued with an estimated value of $7.7 million. The largest part of this, $6.0 million, can be attributed to the expansion project at the Wausau Medical Center. Business alteration permits issued numbered 37 and were worth approximately $7.6 million. 

     Financial activity in Table 14 shows that nearly $31 million, or 4.2 percent, was added to area deposits. In first quarter 1989 the figure for deposits was about $600 million, today, it's in excess of $750 million. Lending activity in the area has been especially strong during 1993. Bank lending has jumped from around $550 million to over $600 million in just twelve months on a seasonally adjusted basis. The behavior of both bank deposit and bank lending statistics is of the magnitude you would expect to observe in a growing economy.