Theithacajournal.com has covered our recent study in Tompkins County, New York in an article: Expert: County's workforce educated, underemployed. Tim Ashmore writes:

ITHACA — A shortage of basic-skill workers in Tompkins County, and the six surrounding counties that make up the county labor market, means a higher rate of underemployment throughout the county, a consultant for Tompkins County Area Development said.

The analysis is the first step in understanding the make-up of the county's workforce, which will enable TCAD to develop a strategy to more efficiently match available labor with jobs.

Forbes Magazine recently named Ithaca the third most intelligent city in the United States, as roughly half the population holds a bachelor's degree or higher. Chris Chmura, president and chief economist for Chmura Economics and Analytics, said that in 2006, 18.5 percent of the high-skill workforce was underemployed due to the lack of high-skill, high-paying jobs. High-skilled workers are classified as workers with a bachelor's degree or higher; they make up just over 40 percent of the Tompkins County workforce.

Statewide, 30 percent of the workforce was considered high-skilled in 2006, but the percentage of underemployed workers was less than half of Tompkins County's at 9 percent. Nationally, more than 25 percent of the workforce was in 2006 high-skilled and 7 percent are underemployed.

Adjusted gross income comparisons between workers moving in and then moving out of Tompkins County showed that, over an 11-year period from 1996 to 2006, residents leaving the county took jobs that pay on average $7,000 more than Tompkins County jobs.

That puts the county average closer to the comparison for all of New York, where laborers make nearly $8,000 a year more after leaving the state.

In the Tompkins County Labor Market — which includes Cayuga, Chemung, Cortland, Tioga, Tompkins, Schuyler and Seneca counties — workers make less than $2,000 per year more after leaving the region.

Chmura said that a salary increase for graduate students leaving the county, as well as a lack of high-wage opportunities, may play a part in that statistic. Only 1 percent of jobs in the county offer annual salaries higher than $95,000, while the national average for jobs offering salaries greater than $95,000 is 4 percent.

Tompkins' unemployment rate is the lowest in the state, according to the New York State Labor Department Web site. The county closed 2007 with 3.1 percent unemployment, which can be attributed to the high percentage of high-skilled workers who have greater job flexibility, and faster job market growth than workforce growth, Chmura said.

In the next 10 years, Chmura expects Tompkins County to have 16,087 jobs to fill while the emerging workforce of the next 10 years is expected to be only 14,980.

In the seven-county region that makes up the Tompkins Labor Market, Chmura said the emerging workforce in the next 10 years will be 57,300 people to fill 48,270 jobs.

The consistently low unemployment rate in Tompkins County is frustrating to businesses looking for employees.

A survey of employers in Tompkins County administered by Chmura found the biggest complaint to be the lack of basic-skill workers, who make up just a quarter of Tompkins County's workforce. That's just more than half the national statistic at 44 percent. The demand for basic-skill labor in the county is 50 percent of all job market demand.

The greatest workforce supply shortfalls appear in service-related or food-preparation jobs, healthcare support and personal-care and service-occupation jobs.

One potential reason listed by Chmura for the lack of basic-skill labor in the county is the lack of affordable housing options.

TCAD plans to establish a strategic planning committee this month that plans to examine Tompkins County's workforce.