The economic results for Fourth Quarter were positive for the Wausau area.  For example, the unemployment rate is at just 3.2 percent, industrial sector employment was higher by 1.7 percent, retailer data is quite positive, and residential construction activity is booming.  Further, help wanted advertising is higher than a year ago, and public assistance is minimal.  Thus, by most measures of assessment the economy is growing.

     Marathon county industrial sector employment increased by 1,100 positions, or 1.7 percent from last year (Table 7).  Leading the way this quarter was trade and construction activity, which added 500 and 400 positions respectively.  Manufacturing and government grew by 100 positions each.  Service sector employment remained constant at 20.3 thousand people employed.  In sum, the industrial sector figures show that the economy continues to move forward.

     Retailer confidence in Table 8 shows that local merchants are upbeat about their financial situation and prospects.  Our survey shows that local retailers believe that store traffic and sales are much above those levels of one year ago.  Further, this group looks to the future with much optimism.  They are forecasting that sales and store traffic will be more robust three months from now compared to a year ago.

     Help wanted advertising, a barometer of local labor market conditions, indicates that advertising is 26 points, or 15 percent higher than last year (Table 9).  The reading of 200 means there are two jobs being advertised for each job advertised in the base year.  The U.S. index meanwhile remains stable, hovering around the 91 mark.

     Public assistance claims data show the effects of the state's W2 plan and the overall health of the economy (Table 10).  New applications fell from 11 to 5 for general assistance.  Likewise, the total caseload contracted from 12 to 10.  Another measure of local family financial distress is unemployment claims data (Table 11).  New claims contracted from 372 to 280 on a weekly average basis, a decline of 24.7 percent.  Total claims also fell over the period from 1,367 to 1,174 or 14.1 percent.  Thus the unemployment numbers suggest or hint at the health of the local economy.

     Low interest rates and rising incomes have kept the local residential construction scene on a hot pace.  The number of new permits issued rose by 11.7 percent and the estimated value of the activity rocketed upwards by 79.6 percent (Table 12).  Also of interest is that residential alteration permits moved briskly ahead by 15.8 percent, and the value of this activity is estimated to be 63.3 percent more than a year ago.

     Nonresidential construction is presented without percentage changes due to the volatile nature of this kind of activity (Table 13).  New permits totaled 15 and they were valued at $5.3 million.  With regard to alterations activity the number of permits reached 44 with a value of $2.7 million.  Overall, activity in nonresidential construction was lower than a year ago.

     Financial statistics for the next four quarters will have no previous comparison point because of bank merger activity in the local area.  This year's figures for bank lending and deposits are much higher than last and are not valid for comparison purposes (Table 14).  Moreover, attempts to receive pre-merger figures from the merged institutions were unsuccessful.  At this juncture all that can be reported is that deposits are now $2.1 billion and loans $1.7 billion in the local area.