Interesting Times Recent times have been both interesting and challenging with the spread of the Delta variant interrupting a return to normalcy that we were all looking forward to. Now, the emergence of the Omicron variant promises to keep things interesting as we head into the holiday season and the new year.
Table of Contents
The Economy: Where We’ve Been and Where We’re Going............1-10 Kevin M. Bahr, CBEI Chief Analyst Economic Indicators...................................................... 11-17 Scott Wallace, CBEI Director and Editor National Economic Statistics........................................ 11-13 Table 1: Key Economic Indicators Table 2: Contributions to Percent Change in Real Gross Domestic Product Table 3: Lifecycle of the Expansion Labor Market Statistics.......................................................14 Table 4: Labor Market Indicators from LAUS Table 5: WI Employment by Major Industry Sector County Economic Statistics. ...............................................15 Table 6: Help Wanted Advertising Table 7: Unemployment Claims Table 8: County Sales Tax Distribution Housing and Construction..............................................16-17 Table 9: National Affordability Index Table 10: Median Home Prices and Home Sales Table 11: Residential Construction Table 12: Nonresidential Construction Special Report................................................................ 18-22 Data Analytics: From the Depths of Motivation to the Heights of Cell Towers Kurt Pflughoeft and Grace Nemecek Column: Insight Spotlight.............................................. 23-27 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Bo DeDeker MBA Program.......................................................................28 The Voltage Effect Event. .......................... Inside Back Cover
Speaking of interesting times, Chief Analyst Kevin Bahr in The U.S. Economy – Like Nothing That You’ve
Seen describes how the pandemic has created a truly unique set of economic conditions. Our Economic Indicators section provides further evidence for Kevin’s narrative.
Our special topic report, Data Analytics: From the Depths of Motivation to the Heights of Cell Towers by Prof. Kurt Pflughoeft and Grace Nemecek ’21 demonstrates the enormous power of data analytics in informing a regional telecommunications company’s decisions over the geographic locations of cell towers. These decisions are critical in maximizing cell tower revenue and in providing rural communities greater access to wireless services. Prof. Pflughoeft is a Sentry Endowed Chair of Computational Analytics at UWSP and Grace Nemecek is a data scientist at Bug Tussel Wireless. This issue’s Insight Spotlight features Bo DeDeker, assistant professor of accounting, describing the role of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in expanding corporate goals beyond maximizing shareholder value to include improving environmental outcomes and supporting greater social equity. The Center for Business and Economic Insight is very excited to announce our next speaker in our Business and Society Lecture Series: University of Chicago economics professor and UWSP alum John List will present The Voltage Effect on Friday, March 4 at 8-9:30 a.m. at the SentryWorld Atrium. John will talk about the importance of scaling new ideas, ventures, and businesses to ensure their success and maximize their impact. Preregistration is required and seats are limited. All registered attendees receive a free copy of his book, The Voltage Effect: How to Make Good Ideas Great and Great Ideas Scale . See the inside back cover for more information.
CBEI Mission
CBEI Staff
The UW-Stevens Point Center for Business and Economic Insight (CBEI) promotes regional economic and community development through the provision of business and economic knowledge to local business, governmental, and community leaders. The primary areas of focus are Portage, Marathon and Wood counties.
Scott Wallace.................................... Director and Editor, CBEI Kevin Bahr................................................... Chief Analyst, CBEI Alexis Flaten......................................Research Assistant, CBEI Eva Donohoo................................... Publication Designer, CPS
The Center for Business and Economic Insight is made possible thanks to support from the UW-Stevens Point School of Business and Economics.
The UW-Stevens Point School of Business and Economics creates career-ready graduates and leaders through applied learning. We serve the businesses, economy and people of the greater Central Wisconsin region. We specialize in preparing students for success by providing professional development experiences, access to employers, and in-demand skills.
Made with FlippingBook Learn more on our blog