The Effective Labor Force in the Montgomery County Labor Market

Abstract

The Montgomery County Labor Market contains a sizable pool of available labor, much of it educated and trained. Survey results indicated that in September 1997, about 2,000 persons were unemployed and 4,300 more were underemployed, creating a labor pool of about 6,300 persons either seeking employment or seeking improved employment. The underemployed workers are educated and skilled and want full-time, permanent jobs that require the skills they have developed through education, formal training, and on-the-job training.

This report is based on a survey of the Montgomery County Labor Market conducted in September 1997 by the Institute for Public Policy and Economic Research located at the University of Kansas. The 400 responses, from a region containing all or parts of ten counties in both Kansas and Oklahoma, found an unemployment rate of 4.0% and an underemployment rate of 9.1 %. Analysis suggests that the estimated unemployment rate is probably biased downward, and that the "true" unemployment rate is probably somewhere between 4.1 % and 4.5%.

In addition, a higher percentage of the employed workers in this labor market are currently in school or receiving additional special training ( 11.8%) than was found in the state of Kansas two years ago. Members of the labor force want and continue to improve its skills, primarily for the purpose of either finding a better job or getting a promotion at their current place of work.