Skilled and trained businesspeople live in Cherokee County and would rather work near home than drive further into Atlanta as they do today, a new study shows.
Although the fact that a white collar workforce travels into Atlanta to work is commonly known, the Cherokee County Office of Economic Development (OED) needed statistics to back up the obvious, in order to lure corporate clients looking for an economical place to relocate their corporate operations centers.
More than 700 people responded to an online commuter survey to determine what kind of talent the county has living within its borders. Boyette Strategic Advisors used the sample as a representative of the county’s approximated 122,000 workers.
The goal of the survey was to identify and quantify workforce availability in the area; as well as determine the skill sets of the those who live in the county and those that leave the county for work each day.
“This is an in-depth workforce analysis,” said Misti Martin, president of the OED. “We just could not get enough information from the ARC (Atlanta Regional Commission), DOL (Department of Labor) and Census Bureau to compile an accurate profile.”
Martin said that in order to gather effective data that it can use to attract businesses to take advantage of Cherokee’s very skilled workforce, the $25,000 study was a necessity.
Del Boyette, principal of BSA, summarized survey results at the April 25 OED meeting.
The key finding of the study, Boyette said, is “Of those surveyed who lived in Cherokee County, but did not work in Cherokee County, 97 percent indicated they would prefer to work in Cherokee County.”
Of the 34 percent of respondents, who were currently seeking other employment, 80 percent to 90 percent said the reason they were looking is because their commute was too long.
“And these results are before the recent spike in gas prices,” Boyette pointed out.
“Now, we’ve got statistics to say, ‘Hey, we’ve got the workforce,’” he said.
The study also examined current salaries and determined that it would be more economical for corporate clients to locate in a place like Cherokee rather than someplace like the northeastern U.S., because the cost of living is less, and they can pay employees accordingly.
The study shows cost of living in Canton runs about
10 percent below the average for the metro-Atlanta area, and the median home cost also runs about 10 percent below the metro average. The median home cost in Canton is $128,700, while the U.S. median is $183,450.
Boyette said the study would provide precise data for the OED to use to court corporations for three years, and then it can be updated by staff because the sources for all the statistics in the survey are referenced.
The Boyette survey shows Cherokee County draws its workforce from 12 counties: Cherokee, Gilmer, Dawson, Pickens, Forsyth, Gwinnett, North Fulton, Cobb, Paulding, Douglas, Bartow and Gordon. Almost 2.4 million employees are in commuting range of Cherokee, not including 316,478 in North Fulton. Median age of the “labor shed” is 37.4 years.
The study found that currently, 78.7 percent of residents travel outside the county for work each day. The majority commute to Fulton County, 37.9 percent; followed by Cobb County, 22 percent.
The population’s commuting figures also show that it is willing to drive more than 30 minutes one way for meaningful employment.
Data indicates that there are more than 127,000 people currently unemployed in the labor shed area.
The study defines “white collar” workers as those with skills to be employed in everything but manufacturing and distribution, and 67 of the county’s workforce are employed in something other than manufacturing. The OED’s target is to attract jobs in customer service/technical support, financial services, healthcare, information technology and retirement services and well as attracting regional headquarters.
“Cherokee County’s targeted white collar sectors present some challenges in terms of occupational demand,” the survey said. “Virtually every sector …. Is projected to grow … some by as much as 70 to 80 percent … The projected growth will require some aggressive education/training and recruitment strategies to meet the workforce needs of new and existing employers in these white collar positions.”
“The retail being in these statistics skews it somewhat,” OED member Ashley Holcomb observed.
Boyette said that in metro Atlanta, manufacturing is not a growing segment of the population, even though there are good manufacturing job opportunities in Cherokee.
He said when submitting requests for proposals to companies looking to relocate white collar businesses, “you’ve got to show that the talent is in the pipeline 25 years from now, and that the workforce is affordable.”
Holcomb said infrastructure such as water and sewer will be critical to attracting business.
“There was nothing in North Fulton 20 years ago,” he said. “The taxes here are attractive. Our biggest opportunity is lease expirations in North Fulton.”
The Boyette study also shows that the labor shed area has grown by 37 percent in the last 10 years, and is expected to continue to grow in the next five years at a rate of around 13 percent.
Cherokee and the other labor shed counties are above the national and state average in household income. Average earning in the Cherokee labor shed for all sectors is $43,145, lower than the U.S. average but slightly higher than the Georgia average.
It shows that, of those who commute outside Cherokee, 28 percent earn $50,000 to $74,999 per year; 21 percent make more than $100,000; and 20 percent earn $75,000 to $99,999. The county workforce is well-educated compared to state and national averages, with 43 percent having a college degree and 20 percent having some college.
OED Chairman Marshall Day said he would like to read the in-depth survey and then discuss it again with the entire OED, so it can “pull out some gems” to use in recruiting.
