Defining the Available Labor Pool: The Kansas Labor Force Survey

Abstract

One of the key questions for employers seeking to locate or expand their operations is whether a prospective community has an available and affordable labor force with the prerequisite skills. This study outlines an applied theoretical perspective and a set of survey methods to move beyond the inherent limitations of unemployment rates and other census data used to infer availability and prevailing wage rates of a community's workforce. Applying these methods to Kansas in 2001, the authors found more than 7% of Kansans of working age, or about 110,000 potential workers, were unemployed in some manner but were available for job opportunities. Another 12.6% of the Kansas labor force, or just more than 159,000 people, were employed (full-and part-time) and were actively seeking new employment opportunities. A total of 43.7% of the Kansas labor force, or about 651,000 people, would consider a new employment opportunity given the right circumstances.A key question for employers seeking to locate or expand their operations is whether a prospective community has an available and affordable labor force with the prerequisite skills (Aichlmayr, 2000). Although unemployment rates in most states and communities increased in 2002, it is difficult to infer the availability of a qualified workforce using standard U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data. The first section of this study outlines the applied theoretical and operational framework for assessing the available labor pool in an area. The second section details the survey methods used to estimate the available labor pool in any state or community and the findings from the application of these survey methods in Kansas in 2001. The final section assesses the limitations of these methods, the relevance of this research to site locators and employers seeking to relocate or expand, and the importance of this research, even in a higher employment environment.

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Methodological Approaches for Prediction of the Level of Provision of Regional Economy by Labor Resources

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The Great Divide: Economic Development Theory Versus Practice-A Survey of the Current Landscape

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