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Understanding Worker Flow Data

COMMUNITY INDICATORS  

                                                                                                 

Community Indicators are intended to stimulate thoughtful dialogue about your community, they can help identify potential issues, opportunities and problems facing your community. This communication piece is also intended to increase use and understanding of readily accessible demographic data on the web.

                                     

Issue 3, April, 2003

By: Andy Lewis

Center for Community Economic Development

University of Wisconsin Extension

610 Langdon Street, Room 334

Madison, WI 53703

(608) 265-8136, cced@uwex.edu , http://www.uwex.edu/ces/cced/

The Wisconsin Economic Development Association (WEDA), states that the reasons for economic development are quite basic: "Economic development helps pay the bills . Economic development is about working together to maintain a strong economy by creating and retaining desirable jobs , which provide a good standard of living for individuals, thereby increasing the tax base , so a community, county or state can provide the level of services residents expect".

 

The tax base argument has always been a fuzzy issue for a number of reasons. Some forms of new development can in fact detract from the existing tax base. Some examples include:

Many people however support economic development efforts because they want to provide better employment opportunities for residents. The fact of the matter however, is that new jobs are not necessarily filled by residents within the host community.

County-to-county Worker Flow Files

See: Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development Report at:

http://dwd.wisconsin.gov/oea/pdf/Commuting2000.pdf

Or the U.S. Census at:

http://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/commuting.html

Recently released "County-to-County Worker flow" data provides very interesting insights into employment commute patterns. Dane County Wisconsin, for example, might be considered very "self-sufficient" as 95% of the local labor force is employed within the county boundaries (95%). Florence County Wisconsin, on the other hand, has only 38% of its employed residents working within the boundaries of Florence County. The remaining 62% are commuting outside of the county for employment. Of Wisconsin's seventy two counties, twenty one are providing jobs for 80% or more of its residents. The other 51 counties in the state are relying on neighboring counties and states for 20% or more of its workforce employment.

While communities can work on becoming more "self-sufficient" and attracting jobs which meet the employment needs of local residents, they can't ignore the need to cooperate regionally on job creation efforts.

Benefits from employment do tend to be regional, but communities should think about how commuting for employment impacts the following:

 

While having more jobs than employed residents (a "job surplus") would normally be a positive economic indicator, it is possible there would be a negative side. For example, it may be that there are a number of low paying jobs that do not pay a wage that supports local housing costs. Therefore, employees may reside in outlying areas where the cost of living is lower.

A quick look at the data reveals which counties could be considered "importers of labor" (more employment opportunities than the total local labor force) and which counties are highly reliant on other communities for employment, or "exporters of labor". For example, 2,006 persons are traveling to Menominee County, but there are only 1,365 residents in the county that are actively employed (80% of which are employed locally). Those 641 "extra" jobs are equal to 47% of the county's total labor force. Florence, Pierce and Adams County have far fewer local jobs than they have residents looking for employment:

 

For a copy of an Excel Worksheet that calculates "self sufficiency" and the exporting/importing of jobs for all Wisconsin Counties, see:

http://www.uwex.edu/ces/cced/documents/commute.xls

 

These calculations could be made for other states using the data on the Census web site at:

http://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/commuting.html

 

Top Ten "Exporters of Labor":

County

Job Shortage

Expressed as a Percentage of employed residents

Florence

-1,139

-50%

Pierce

-9,038

-43%

Adams

-3,326

-43%

Oconto

-6,519

-37%

Lafayette

-3,009

-36%

Bayfield

-2,169

-33%

Waushara

-3,393

-33%

Calumet

-7,050

-32%

Buffalo

-2,201

-31%

Marquette

-1,905

-29%

For a copy of an Excel Worksheet that calculates "self sufficiency" and the exporting/importing of jobs for all Wisconsin Counties, see:

http://www.uwex.edu/ces/cced/documents/commute.xls

 

These calculations could be made for other states using the data on the Census web site at:

http://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/commuting.html

 

Iowa County Wisconsin, offers an interesting glimpse into the relevancy of this information. Iowa County is located directly west of Dane County and has a population of 22,780 (Census 2000). Dodgeville, Wisconsin is the County Seat and has a population of 4,220 and is home to Lands End Inc., a major employer in Southwest Wisconsin. Table XX shows us that 7,920, or 64% or the County's residents work within the county. While 4,007 (11,927 - 7,920) non-residents from numerous surrounding counties commute to Iowa County for employment, there are almost an equal number of Iowa County residents (3,155) commuting to Dane County for employment. Even with a major employer like Lands End in a small rural County, the local labor force (12,467) is larger then the number of local jobs (11,927).

 

County-to-County Worker Flow (Iowa County, WI example):

Live In:

Work In:

Count:

 

Travel To:

From:

Count::

Iowa Co. WI

Iowa Co. WI

7,920

 

Iowa Co. WI

Iowa Co. WI

7,920

 

Dane Co. WI

3,155

 

 

Grant Co. WI

1,494

 

Grant Co. WI

446

 

 

Dane Co. WI

928

 

Sauk Co. WI

387

 

 

Lafayette Co. WI

795

 

Lafayette Co. WI

141

 

 

Sauk Co. WI

298

 

Richland Co. WI

129

 

 

Richland Co. WI

203

 

Green Co. WI

55

 

 

Green Co. WI

44

 

Dubuque Co. IA

42

 

 

Crawford Co. WI

36

 

Jefferson Co. WI

33

 

 

Columbia Co. WI

25

 

Columbia Co. WI

25

 

 

Portage Co. WI

25

 

Cook Co. IL

16

 

 

Cook Co. IL

21

 

Crawford Co. WI

11

 

 

Winnebago Co. WI

16

 

Elsewhere

107

 

 

Jo Daviess Co. IL

12

 

Grand Total

12,467

 

 

Rock Co. WI

11

 

 

 

 

 

Vernon Co. WI

10

 

 

 

 

 

Dubuque Co. IA

10

 

 

 

 

 

Elsewhere

79

 

 

 

 

 

Grand Total

11,927

 

County-to-County worker flow data is from the 2000 census and was just recently released. If you would like more current labor force information for Wisconsin Counties, see the updated County Workforce Profiles compiled by the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development at:

http://www.dwd.state.wi.us/oea/cp_pdf/cp_mainx.htm

 

 

In many parts of the state, local units of government are talking about consolidating services and working collaboratively on issues like economic development. Employment data is one tool that might be used to encourage this type of regional alliance, as major employers tend not to be concerned about where their employees are coming from.

"The municipality that invests in the infrastructure for industrial development may find that the majority of jobs go to nonresidents who commute from other places. Local costs and regional benefits demand a fresh approach to industrial expansion strategies".

Source:

The Regional Village: A report of a study of values and behaviors of residents of small Wisconsin villages, Robert N. Dick, University of Wisconsin Extension , August 1992. For a scanned copy of the report see: http://www.uwex.edu/ces/cced/documents/regional_village.pdf

In a study now a decade old, the late Bob Dick noted that "Wisconsin villages have become regional communities. Individual villages are no longer self-contained service and social centers. A majority of residents commute for employment, health care, shopping and cultural enrichment". Dick's study which focused on Wisconsin villages with populations between 1,000 and 2,000 discovered that 80% of those employed outside the home commuted to work in other communities (not necessarily in a different county). He concluded, that "The municipality that invests in the infrastructure for industrial development may find that the majority of jobs go to non-residents who commute from other places. Local costs and regional benefits demand a fresh approach to industrial expansion strategies".

To get a better handle on local commute patterns for specific employers it might make sense to begin mapping out commute patters for local major employers. Community development professionals could work with local employers and their payroll data to determine where people are coming from. This data might provide useful strategies for both employers and communities by identifying such things as:

 

In Wisconsin, The Trade Area Mapper software could be used to plot employees on a map using only zip code data for the employees (which should ease concerns over confidentiality). This easy-to-use GIS software is free and available from the Center for Community Economic Development ( please e-mail Matt Kures at: kures@admin.uwex.edu )