Wall Street's sell-off is slowing on Tuesday, for now at least, following a scary stretch where worries about the economy and tariffs sent it close to 9% below its all-time high.
As confidence in the nation's economy slips as seen by recent volatility in the stock market, the State Bank Financial and UW-La Crosse College of Business Administration Economic Indicators survey shows the 7 Rivers region shares the same worries.
Using the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index model, the College of Business Administration sent out 1,200 surveys on consumer expectations and received 94 responses.
The survey assesses consumer attitudes by indexing attitudes on personal finances, business conditions and purchasing power.
Sentiment in current conditions is below late-pandemic levels, and forward-looking expectations are far below.
In October 2022, the index for consumer belief in the economy was 65.6 on a 100-point scale locally. Sentiment rose back up to 91 points locally in October 2024, with future outlook reaching 90.7 points.
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In March 2025's survey, sentiment has slipped to 57.7. Expectations for future economies were at 66.9 in October 2022, but are now at only 50.6.
Compare this drop to the 2008 recession: consumer sentiment in early 2008 reached just under 80 points. After the recession hit full swing, sentiment sat at an even 60 points locally in February 2009.
To explain the economic concerns, hosts of the Economic Indicators will hold a panel and discussion that shows how rural areas can be seen as somewhat of a microcosm to larger economic attitudes and confidence.
Regional employers will join a panel Thursday to discuss how economic confidence and changes in population affect rural towns and employers.
This year's panel theme is titled "Rural Resilience: Navigating Workforce & Demographic Shifts in Wisconsin."
Alongside the UW-L College of Business Administration dean Taggart Brooks, three local employers will testify how flight from rural areas affects their business models and the towns that some residents continue to leave.
JD Greenwalt, CEO of Westby Cooperative Creamery; Tanner Holst, FACHE administrative chair for Practice at Mayo Clinic Health System; and Stephanie Pollex, director of Talent Acquisition at Kwik Trip, Inc. will all discuss the efforts to bolster rural labor supply.
Brooks explained that for many companies, presence in more rural areas has become a cost concern as demographics change in age and overall population. As rural areas get older without more people moving to those areas, demand for services there becomes hard to justify.
"You know, if you're going to have an MRI machine, you've got to have so many people going through using the MRI, otherwise it's not cost effective," Brooks said.
Brooks added companies struggle to get workers out to rural areas to maintain operations, even nationwide companies like Westby Cooperative Creamery.
"The declining population in this rural area doesn't affect them from a demand side, but they face it from the supply side, like, how do they get engineers out there to work for them full-time or whenever they need it," Brooks said.
Low demand and supply for rural work creates a downward spiral as people leave for bigger towns and cities. With fewer residents, the tax base leaves with them and strips smaller towns of their basic services. Without services, these rural towns become less attractive for a prospective labor force.
Mid-sized cities like La Crosse benefit slightly from increased shopping where it is more widely available.
"It's the same thing as, like, Amazon has this effect on us, right?" Brooks said. "If I know a store in town has something and would have it in stock, I go there and get it. If I think there's a chance I show up and they don't have what I need or what I want but I know I can get it on Amazon in two days, I just go on Amazon."
Panelists at the Economic Indicators event will discuss and collaborate on sustained growth opportunities for Wisconsin's rural landscapes like enhancing labor supply, service provision and revitalization.
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