Below is an excerpt from the most recent edition of WisBusiness Tuesday Trends.
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RISING
Ag exports: The state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection reports Wisconsin has exported $2.1 billion worth of agricultural products through the first three quarters of the year, a 24 percent increase over the same period in 2010 and a new nine-month record for the state. The total puts Wisconsin 17th in the nation based on agricultural exports. The state led the country in exports of six products — ginseng roots, canned sweet corn and flaxseed among them — and finished second for the year so far in exporting four other products, including cheese and beer. DATCP reports the state sold to more than 140 countries during the period, with the top export markets in Canada, Mexico, South Korea, China and Japan. The top four markets saw double-digit growth in exports for the period.
MIXED
Jobs: For the second straight month, the state’s jobless rate dips slightly, dropping from 7.8 percent in September to 7.7 percent last month according to the latest monthly jobs totals from the state labor department. But that rate change includes the loss of some 9,300 private sector jobs — the fourth consecutive month of losses. Preliminary jobs data from October indicate that declines in manufacturing, health care, construction and retail contributed to the losses, while the leisure and hospitality sectors were among those with one-month jobs gains. Jobs news for this week is also tenuous, as labor strife at Manitowoc Cranes sparks the loss of 156 positions. And in Dane County, Brown Shoe Co. says it will close a large distribution facility of subsidiary Famous Footwear in Sun Prairie, costing 144 jobs. But Gov. Scott Walker makes the rounds to tout more than 700 new jobs. First, the governor joins Cree’s Ruud Lighting in Sturtevant to announce a $24.5 million expansion project that could lead to the addition of up to 469 new full-time jobs. Then, Walker joins Wisconsin Aluminum Foundry in Manitowoc as the company announces an expansion expected to add 43 jobs. And this week, Walker is on hand when Massachusetts-based Collaborative Consulting announces plans to build a software development center and add some 200 jobs in Wausau.
FALLING
Edgewater Hotel: The Madison Common Council delivers a likely death blow to the long-debated hotel renovation project on the shores of Lake Mendota. City alders deadlocked on $16 million in tax increment financing for the $98 million project, and Mayor Paul Soglin — a critic of the development — declined to cast a deciding vote. Developer Robert Dunn of Hammes Co. said before the council meeting that a vote against the TIF funding would kill the Edgewater renovation, and supporters of the development said the vote would send a chilling signal about the city to other potential project developers. But opponents said the current fiscal climate wasn’t the right time to sign off on the spending. Soglin says he hopes a more modest proposal to overhaul the Edgewater can eventually pass, but that the previous proposal didn’t give taxpayers enough bang for their buck.
