***NEW*** Economic Outlook: What's Ahead for 2019? (11/15/2018)

An economic outlook for the Central Wisconsin region, focusing on a variety of economic indicators relevant to our local community and beyond. This presentation will help you gain an understanding of local, state and national trends and how these conditions will influence the region’s economic performance.

Enrollment in the University of Wisconsin System (10/4/2018)

Using data from the UW System, UW-Stevens Point, Federal Reserve Economic Data, and National Center for Education Statistics this analysis evaluates changes to enrollment in the University of Wisconsin System.

UW System enrollment and enrollment at all physical UW-Colleges has declined over the period from 2010-2017 but remains above 2006 levels. The results are not so consistent across Universities with some having experienced growth during the same period. Overall, there is a weak degree of positive correlation between the unemployment rate and enrollment in the UW System during the period 1976-2018; however, there is a large degree of heterogeneity among correlation coefficients across the Universities. Last, the number of high school graduates produced in May and the UW System enrollment in the fall initially move in opposite directions but having fewer potential students quickly turns into lower UW System enrollment.

Occupational Change Under the Walker Administration (9/12/2018)

Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, this analysis evaluates the employment changes in the state of Wisconsin by major occupation over the period 2011 to 2017.

While employment grew over the period, growth rates by major occupation vary significantly with some having contracted. In general, mean and median hourly wages grew over the period. Through shift-share analysis, this analysis decomposes total growth and focuses on the regional effects. While typically performing mid-pack, this is where the nuances are teased from the data. Not one major occupation yielded positve regional effects in both employment growth and median hourly wage growth over the period.

2018)

Using data from the US Census Bureau, this analysis evaluates the changes to the youth in the Greater Central Wisconsin region over the period 2000 to 2016.

This project is a broad regional overview that focuses on the youth in Greater Central Wisconsin. The analysis focuses on the region defined by Adams, Forest, Juneau, Langlade, Lincoln, Marathon, Oneida, Portage, Vilas, and Wood counties in Wisconsin. The objective of the project is to better understand the youth in the region between the ages 16 and 24, particularly those neither in school nor in the labor force. Sometimes referred to as disconnected youth and more appropriately referred to as opportunity youth, these individuals from a national perspective tend to be minority or Hispanic and come from low to middleincome households. Providing education and skills training opportunities to these individuals more often than not comes at a lower cost than the future social service costs. These opportunity youth make for excellent targets of regional investment and offer above normal rates of return.

NEW Economic Outlook: What's Ahead for 2019? (11/15/2018)

Sponsored by Investors Community Bank.