Full Report - Kossuth County Economic Development

E UUnderemployment is a recent point of interest in popular literature, but has actually been an issue studied andaddressed by economists for nearly 20 years. While there is no one widely accepted definion ofunderemployment, for the purpose of this Laborshed study, underemployment is defined in the followingthree ways:1. Inadequate hours worked ‐ individuals working less than 35 hours per week and desiring more hours.2. Mismatch of skills ‐ workers are denoted as “mismatched” if their completed years of educaon areabove the number needed for their current occupaonal group, they have significant technicalskills beyond those currently being ulized or if they have held previous jobs with a higher wage orsalary.3. Low income ‐ individuals working full‐me but at wages insufficient enough to keep them above thepoverty level.Each of these categories of underemployment can be very difficult to esmate; however, it appears as thoughelements of each of these categories exist in this Laborshed area.U D I H WIn order to assess the impact of underemployment by inadequate hours worked in the Laborshed area, werefer to tabulaons of the employed willing to change employment working 34 hours or less from the surveyresponses. The survey data shows that underemployment due to inadequate hours is esmated to be 0.5percent within the Laborshed area (Figure 25).Figure 25Underemployed ‐ Inadequate Hours WorkedPercent UnderemployedLow HoursEstimated UnderemployedDesiring More Hours0.5% 29The calculaon for esmated underemployed desiring more hours is based on the Esmated Number ofEmployed Willing to Change 5,766 projecons found in Figure 11.U D M SUnderemployment may also be calculated by examining individuals that are employed in posions that do notmaximize their previous experience, skills and educaon or that do not adequately compensate them based ontheir qualificaons. IWD’s Laborshed survey of the region aempts to provide the best esmate of this“mismatch” of skills by asking respondents if they believe that they are underemployed and if so, why.Respondents first answered the queson, “Are you qualified for a beer job?” Individuals answering “yes” arethen asked to classify why they are qualified based on categories relang to previously held jobs that requiredmore skill and educaon, acquiring addional job training and educaon at their current job, current job doesnot require their level of training or educaon and greater pay at a previous job. Respondents selected alldescriptors that applied to their situaon.The choices provided on the survey are not an exhausve list of explanaons of why the respondent isoverqualified, but a collecon of the most likely responses based on prior surveys and research.Kossuth County Laborshed Analysis 18 Released March 2013