The local economy continued to move along in Fourth Quarter 1995. For example nonfarm employment Increased by approximately 1,1300 positions or by 2.7 percent from last year. Retailers believe conditions at the local level are good. This is in contrast to news concerning the dismal national merchandising scene. The help wanted advertising index remains elevated and public assistance claims continued their decline for the area. Nonresidential activity was well above last years totals and, as additional evidence of the situation, financial statistics for both lending and deposits was quite encouraging. 

     On the minus side of the ledger unemployment claims jumped significantly over last years mark and residential construction for the most part was down. However, alteration activity was brisk as local home owners opted to fix up their existing residences.  

     Table 7 shows that nonfarm employment increased in every sector in the year over comparison. Manufacturing, services and trade gained 700, 200, and 400 positions respectively. Further, the construction and government sectors added 200 and 100 to their payrolls. Overall, Marathon county employment climbed from 58.5 to 60.1 thousand or 2.7 percent from last year. Thus, Fourth Quarter employment growth was respectable in the area. 

     Retailer remained upbeat about the local scene (Table 8). Total sales and store traffic compared to one year ago at the same time were judged to be noticeably higher. When our panel of local merchants was asked to forecast future retail activity they said that store traffic and sales would continue to expand. The optimism of this group has been trending sharply upward since the early part of 1991 and may reflect the boom in retail store openings in the Wausau area. 

     Help wanted advertising index for the Wausau area is given in Table 9. Advertising for employees expanded by 5.9 percent from last year. The reading of 216 means there are about 2.2 jobs being advertised for every one listed in the base year. Since mid 1991 the index has greatly increased in the local area. However, over the past two years there has been a leveling off in the index which suggests a slowing in the growth rate of job related advertising.  

     Public assistance for the Wausau‑Marathon county area is displayed in
Table 10. New applications remained virtually unchanged from a year ago. However, the total caseload figure dropped significantly over the same period. The total caseload figure declined from 77 to 40 or by 48.1 percent from last year. Since early 1990 the total caseload figure has trended slowly downward, from about 100 to 60 cases on a seasonally adjusted basis. 

     Some unfortunate news is presented in Table 11. New unemployment claims on a weekly average basis rose from 380 to 526 a 38.4 percent increase from last year. Moreover, the total claims figure also was well above last year's marts rising from 1,687 to 2,351 or by 39.4 percent. Thus, there has been an increase in the number of area residents who are experiencing economic difficulty. 

     Residential constriction activity fell dramatically in regard to the number of permits issued and their estimated value (Table 12). Further, the number of housing units fell by over half from last year. On a more positive note the number of residential alteration permits issued and their estimated value climbed by 87 and 93 percent respectively. Thus, it appears that local residents have had a renewed preference for alteration activity during Fourth Quarter. 

     Nonresidential construction is presented in Table 13. The number of permits issued reached 12 with an estimated value of $8.3 million in Fourth Quarter 1995. Additionally the number of permits was 48 with an estimated value of $7.8 million. Even though percentage changes are not given for this inherently volatile sector, the increases were nonetheless substantial when compared to last year's totals. 

     Financial statistics for Wausau area were very positive for the Fourth Quarter time period (Table 14). Bank deposits rose from $1.17 billion to $1.27 billion or by nearly 9 percent. Moreover, bank lending expanded from $971.8 million to $1.03 billion or approximately 7.0 percent over the same time period. These numbers are consistent with those of an expanding economy.