March 28, 2024

Union County to conduct laborshed project

The Union County Development Association will be working with the Iowa Workforce Development’s Regional Research Bureau to complete a Laborshed employment study for the Union County area. This study will develop the potential labor force from which the Union County area employers draw their employees based upon commuting patterns into the region. The study will assist existing and potential new businesses in better understanding the areas labor force and characteristics regardless of political boundaries.

The county’s Laborshed boundary is based on the place of residence of individuals working in the Union County area. For the success of this study, employers in the Laborshed area have been asked to provide aggregate counts of their employees by ZIP code by place of residence. This reporting will give an understanding of where each community’s worker force resides.

Once that Laborshed area is determined, a confidential household telephone survey will be conducted in those areas. The questions will cover topics like: employment status, wages, benefits, education and occupation. Survey results were then applied to demographic data to develop a total potential labor force of the Laborshed, as well as estimates for various labor force characteristics.

The results for each county and regional analysis can be found at http://www.iowaworkforce.org/lmi/labsur/index.html. If you have any questions, about the Laborshed employment study project, contact Ryan Murphy at 515-281-7505 or Wayne J. Pantini at 641-782-2003.