Fall 2025 Economic update with federal reserve in Merrill

MERRILL, Wis. (WJFW) – Ron Wirtz, a Regional Outreach Director at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, says this event is all about talking with local businesses about how the economy is working for them.

“We have an awful lot of data we depend on, but it’s really helpful to come to communities like this to find out whether or not what we’re hearing is what people are experiencing in the real economy,” Wirtz said.

Along with hearing from constituents, Wirtz said according to his data, the U.S. economy is still growing, but maybe not as fast as he had hoped.

“And then if you go to the state level, the Wisconsin economy is not growing as fast as the U.S. economy, and we are hoping we can turn that around a little bit. In our northern counties, we are seeing growth that is a little bit slower than that,” Wirtz said.

Wirtz says the slower growth in Wisconsin is due to issues with the labor force.

“The Wisconsin economy is not adding workers like the U.S. economy is, and the northern county economies are not adding workers as much as the Wisconsin economy is,” Wirtz said.

While slower rates may seem bad, Wirtz said the economy is still strong, but could expand to be better.

“And generally speaking, things have been a little slower up here, and not because business is bad, but it has a lot to do with labor force growth,” Wirtz said.

Wirtz took some questions at the end of his presentation and found most residents had concerns about uncertainty.

“We are in an uncertain economic environment because of tariffs and other things. The thing I’m taking away as a positive is that these businesses are very resilient, it’s not like they are shutting down; they are waiting,” Wirtz said.

Another thing Wirtz took away from speaking with local residents is that many of the issues discussed are concerns he hears everywhere he goes, not only in Lincoln or surrounding counties.