Fables of a Passbook and Financial Literacy

SCEDC BLOG

Fables of a Passbook and Financial Literacy

BY BILL RUBIN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Somewhere in a storage box marked ‘Personal Stuff” sits a palm-sized leather book containing handwritten entries from a savings account closed decades ago. For the younger generation, the non-cell phone object is referred to as a passbook savings book. Doubters can look it up, or they can ask an old person (grandparent) or a really old person (great grandparent). It seems the younger generation cannot imagine bank transactions without the assistance of a cell phone or iPad.

According to this fable, there was a time when bank transactions were done in person with a teller counting the coins and currency before making an entry in the passbook. For good measure the teller may have initialed the transaction in the book. The same teller may have greeted the account holder by name, “Hello Mike, or Robbie, or Chip (footnote: see the 1960s sitcom, ‘My Three Sons’) or Theodore” (footnote: see the ‘Leave it to Beaver’ sitcom). The times were a bit slower back then.

As the world moved toward automation, passbooks gave way to monthly statements delivered by U.S. Mail. Alas, the paper statements yielded to electronic, online summaries. However, with passbooks, the nuisance involving an overdraft fee was avoided. If you didn’t have the funds, you couldn’t make a purchase. Or, as was overheard in a check-out line at a big box retailer this past December, “How come my debit card quit working?” Slow down there, young consumer, your account is running a little H-O-T.

Fables are supposed to have a moral. The moral here involves financial literacy in Wisconsin. In late November 2017, Assembly Bill 280 was signed into law as Act 94. It directed Wisconsin school districts to develop academic standards toward financial literacy including the classroom instruction of financial literacy in grades K-12. The end game is greater financial literacy for the younger generation.

The morals keep getting better. For 75+ years a nonprofit organization called Junior Achievement of Wisconsin (J.A.) has been in classrooms teaching financial literacy and fundamentals of entrepreneurship. J.A. is led by volunteers – moms, dads, retirees, bankers, and business people. School districts in the St. Croix Valley may be aligned with Junior Achievement of the Upper Midwest, based in St. Paul, MN. Regardless of J.A.’s organizational venue, that younger generation eventually grows up to manage their own finances. We hope.

Another moral. Thanks to a great member-partner, St. Croix EDC was able to grant $1,000 to each of the public school districts in St. Croix County last year, earmarked for financial literacy curriculum. Another grant went to J.A. Upper Midwest to jumpstart their instructional lessons in the St. Croix Central district. Modest as those grants were, the EDC envisions long-term benefits for the next set of entrepreneurs and resident consumers in the county.

Here’s to a long-forgotten passbook and Financial Literacy 101.

November 2018 Unemployment

Trending News

St. Croix County’s November 2018 Unemployment Rate at 2.6%

On December 28th, the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development (DWD) announced the preliminary November 2018 unemployment rates for Wisconsin’s 72 counties and the 32 cities with populations greater than 25,000 residents. St. Croix County’s rate was estimated at 2.6%. For comparison, St. Croix’s final rate for October was 2.4% and September’s final rate was 2.9 %. One year ago, the county’s unemployment rate was estimated at 2.7%.

DWD said preliminary unemployment rates for November declined or remained the same in 62 of the 72 counties when compared to November 2017, with seven (7) counties setting or tying all-time low unemployment rates for any month on record. Thirty-eight (38) counties tied or achieved their lowest November rate on record. The rates ranged from 1.9% in Lafayette County to 4.8% in Iron.

The November 2018 preliminary unemployment rates declined or stayed the same in 27 of Wisconsin’s 32 largest municipalities when compared to November 2017. Four cities either tied or achieved their lowest unemployment rate for any month in November. Rates ranged from 1.9% in Fitchburg to 4.8% in Beloit.

The five counties with the lowest unemployment rate in November include Lafayette (1.9%), Dane (2.0%), Green (2.1%), Iowa (also at 2.1%), Richland (also at 2.1%). Iron County had the highest rate in November at 4.8%, followed by Bayfield (4.7%), Menominee (4.2%), Forest (4.1%), and Adams (also at 4.1%).

St. Croix, Pierce, Polk, and Dunn counties comprise Wisconsin’s Greater St. Croix Valley. In addition to St. Croix referenced above, November’s preliminary rate in Dunn was estimated at 2.5%, followed by Pierce at 2.8% and Polk at 3.0%.

St. Croix and Pierce counties are included in the 16-county Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington MN-WI metro area. The November 2018 unemployment rate for the Twin Cities was estimated at 2.0% which is lower than October’s final rate of 2.1% and September’s final rate of 2.2%. The unemployment rate in the Twin Cities was 2.4% in November 2017.

For the tenth consecutive month, the preliminary (seasonally adjusted) unemployment rate for Wisconsin was at or below 3.0%. For November, the rate was estimated at 3.0%, which is the same as the final rate for October and September. One year ago, the state’s seasonally adjusted rate was 3.2%.

The preliminary (seasonally adjusted) unemployment rate in Minnesota in November was estimated at 2.8%, which is the same as the final rate October and September. Minnesota’s seasonally-adjusted rate one year ago was 3.3%.
The preliminary (seasonally adjusted) unemployment rate in the U.S. for November was estimated at 3.7%, which is the same as the final rate for October and September. One year ago, the U.S. rate (seasonally adjusted) was estimated at 4.1%.

Wisconsin’s preliminary (seasonally adjusted) labor force participation rate for November was estimated at 68.2 percent, which is lower than October’s final rate 2018 of 68.4% and September’s final rate of 68.6%. One year ago, Wisconsin’s labor force participation rate was 68.9%. The preliminary (seasonally adjusted) labor force participation rate for the U.S. in November was estimated at 62.9% which is the same as October’s final rate but higher than September’s final rate of 62.7%. One year ago, the labor force participation rate in the U.S. was 62.7%.

November’s estimates are preliminary and are subject to revision within the next few weeks.