St. Croix Valley Economic Dashboard Released
The UW- River Falls Center for Economic Research (CER) in partnership with St. Croix Economic Development Corporation (SCEDC) has released the October 2012 edition of the St. Croix Valley Economic Dashboard 2.0. The dashboard is a snapshot of the economic condition of the labor, consumer and housing markets in the six county St. Croix Valley, which now includes the Wisconsin counties St. Croix, Pierce, Polk and Dunn, as well as the Minnesota counties Chisago, Ramsey and Washington. It presents the latest available data* in one convenient package and can be viewed on the CER's website at www.uwrf.edu/cer.
State and
National Indicators
The
U.S. seasonally adjusted annually growth rate for the second quarter of 2012
was revised to 1.3 percent, which was 1.22 percentage points lower than one year previous.
The national unemployment rate fell to 7.8 percent in September, down 1.3
percent from a year ago. The national inflation rate increased .27 percentage
points from last month and is down 2.07 percentage point from last year.
In
Wisconsin, nonfarm payroll employment increased in August, but has decreased by
.2 percent from a year ago. The unemployment rate increased by 0.1 percentage points
from a year ago to 7.5 percent, and has increased 0.2 percentage points from last
month, according to the BLS survey of households.
The BLS survey of households finds that
Wisconsin has gained 6,582 jobs over the last year. However, the BLS survey of employers finds
that Wisconsin lost 4,400 jobs over the last year. The two surveys seem to indicate that much of
improvement in the Wisconsin labor market is driven by job creation in
neighboring states, not within Wisconsin.
Minnesota’s unemployment rate in August
was 5.9 percent, which is 0.6 percentage points lower than one year previous.
The
BLS survey of employers finds that Minnesota has gained 22,600 jobs over the
last year.
The
Philadelphia Fed’s Coincident Index of
economic activity
indicated the Wisconsin economy contracted at a seasonally adjusted annual rate
of .0.26 percent in August , and the Leading
Index is predicting .77 percent growth over next the six months. The Minnesota
economy contracted at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of .46 percent, but the
Leading Index for Minnesota is predicting a positive annual growth rate of 1.42 percent over next the six months.
Labor Market
Nationally, we have seen steady, albeit
slow, improvement in the labor market. The national economy has added a total
of 1,806,000 jobs year to date.
The Wisconsin economy lost 7,800 jobs net from
July to August and has gained 4,400 jobs since August 2011. The Minnesota
economy lost 2,000 jobs net from July to August and has gained 22,600 jobs
since August 2011.
In August, Wisconsin lost jobs in construction,
information, professional & business services, education and health
services, leisure & hospitality and government. The most significant job
losses came in manufacturing sector (4,500 jobs lost) and trade, transportation
and utilities (2,000 jobs lost). Minnesota saw gains in 4 sectors sectors and decreases
7 sectors. The most significant losses
coming in manufacturing sector (2,700 jobs lost) and trade transportation and
utilities (3,400 jobs lost.)
Conditions in the regional labor market
are fairing better than the Wisconsin state average. The regional unemployment
rate was unchanged at 5.9 percent in the month of August and it remains lower
than the state average in Wisconsin of 7.5 percent, and is the same as the
Minnesota average of 5.9 percent. The data suggests that the St. Croix Valley’s
relative economic strength is due to its proximity to the twin cities.
The
Wisconsin/Minnesota St. Croix Valley is comprised of St. Croix, Polk, Pierce
and Dunn counties in Wisconsin and Chisago, Ramsey and Washington counties
in Minnesota.
All six counties are located along the Wisconsin-Minnesota border. Four of the six
counties, St. Croix , Pierce, Ramsey and Washington, are included in the Minneapolis-St.
Paul-Bloomington MN-WI metropolitan area, a 13-county region with of population
of 3.25 million residents. For additional information on the October edition of the St. Croix Valley
Economic Dashboard, contact Dr. Logan Kelly at cer@uwrf.edu or (715) 425-4993 or William Rubin
at bill@stcroixedc.com or (715) 381-4383.
*Please
note that most regional data is available with between a one and two month
delay, thus the current month's dashboard will have data from previous months.
