Nelson County Findings

The findings listed here are from a regional employment survey, which had a 3.9% margin of error. Given the smaller number of respondents in rural areas, the margin of error is higher. However, the results are useful for planning purposes.

The Respondents:

· 62% of the respondents have lived in Nelson County more than ten years (q30)

· 20% were under 30 years of age, 33% between 30-39 years of age, 47% forty or more; (Q32)

· 60% of the respondents were female, 40% male (q33)

· 71% lived in households containing two adults (q34)

· 63% had high school or the equivalent education, 7% had a college degree, 11% had graduate degrees, 5% associate degrees, and 9% did not complete high school (q35)

· 9% were receiving some sort of training now (most at a community college), another 5% planned to enter training (q33,37)7

· Few respondents earned over $50,000 per year (44% less than $25,000, 25% between $25,00-$34,999, 15% between $35,000-$39,999) (q38)

· 67% were married, 16% single and never married, 7% divorced (q39)

· Two thirds of the respondents had no children in the home, 15% had one, 16% had two children at home (q39)

The Work:

· 73% respondents worked full time; 13% part time; 4% not working but actively looking for employment; 11% not working or looking for employment (q1)

· Most of the part time workers (57%) worked between 30-39 hours per week; next in frequency was 20 hours per week (q1a)

· 62% of the respondents work in the private, for-profit sector; 17% in government; 2% in the private non-profit sector; 6% were self-employed; 9% worked in state government (q2)

· Manufacturing ,(63%) followed by business/professional(13%) and medical services, construction(9%) were the most frequently cited places of employment (q3)

· 24% of the workers held two or more jobs (q4)

· 43% of Nelson workers have been in their present job more than five years, 42% two years or less (q 8)

· 56% of Nelson workers worked for two to four employers over the last five years (q9)

· 85% of the workers either quit or resigned from their last most recent job; 23% had found a new job (q 10, 12)

The Commute:

· 43% of Nelson workers drive longer than 30 minutes to reach their place of employment; 26% between 15 and 29 minutes, 30% less than 15 minutes (q13)

· Most frequently cited workplace sites were Nelson County (35%), Lynchburg area (13%), and Charlottesville area (20%) (q31)

· 44% of the out-commuters expressed a very strong interest in working closer to home, another 11% was moderately interested in doing so (q 21)

· While 63% of these workers would take a 5% cut in wages; 25% would not consider a decrease in income (q22)

· 50% of the respondents would be interested in a job closer to home if free training were provided, the remaining 50% were evenly divide between saying no or didn’t answer this question (q 24a)

The Computer:

· 68% of Nelson workers use a computer at their workplace

· The most frequently cited uses were word processing (66%), email (59%), databases (47%), internet searches (50%), and spreadsheets (47%) (Respondents were asked to cite all uses.) (q17)

· 64% of the respondents had a computer at home which was primarily used by themselves (80%) or spouses (63%), with children cited as users in 63% of the cases (q19)

The Skills and Interest in Training:

· 38% of the workforce profess to have managerial or technical skills; 39% manufacturing-related skills, 25% education related skills, 13% medical skills, 88% clerical/computing skills, 13% ag/forestry, 26% transportation/utilities-related skills, and 13% construction-related skills (Respondents were allowed to check three skills) (q23)

· 25% were interested in computer training, medical,(25%) managerial,(25%) clerical,(25%) legal,(25%) and education,(25%) 23% were interested in legal training, 0% chose training in social sciences (q 24)

· Training was very important to two-thirds of the workers; some what important to 28% of the workers (q14)

· To a third of the workers, job training influenced their decision to remain with a company very much; to another third it mattered somewhat (q15)

Summary:

There is an interest in working closer to home among many Nelson County commuters. However, living closer to home is not attractive if a pay decrease is involved. To entice workers to Nelson County located employment, training to improve job skills that would in turn support higher wages for the Nelson County worker would need to be coupled with an employment attraction program to meet Nelson County’s economic development goals. Resources available to the County include the local school system, the community college system, distance learning programs at the community colleges and IT Academy. The community colleges are uniquely positioned to work with communities and potential employers to meet training needs. Several of the workforce training programs are supported with TJ Venture (Regional Competitiveness Act) funds. Some job access and training is available through the Workforce Today! (Workforce Investment Board) One Stop system and programs.