Census gives economic profile of average worker

Darrin Scott drives a Dodge Neon.

His wife, Jana, drives a minivan.

He and Jana are raising their two daughters in a three-bedroom house with a basement they remodeled themselves in a middle-income subdivision in Jackson.

"We don't feel like we're rich where we can buy whatever we want," Scott said. "But we have enough to have cars and a house. We have to be smart with our money, but we have enough to live the basic lifestyle."

This is what the most typical Cape Girardeau County worker can expect.

Scott, a mathematics teacher and basketball coach at Notre Dame Regional High School, typifies the average of major statistical employment categories recently released by the Census Bureau. The numbers were gathered in 2000.

Like 30.9 percent of the county's workers, Scott is a "professional," the way the census describes white-collar workers. He is part of the 26 percent of the county's workforce who toils in the educational, health or social service fields. Since he works at a private school, Scott -- like 78.8 percent of the county's workers -- is paid from private wages and salaries. The Scott family falls into the largest financial bracket too. Twenty-four percent of the families in the county bring in between $50,000 and $75,000 per year.

White-collar county

The census figures suggest Cape Girardeau County is a white-collar county, which is consistent with statewide numbers. Management, professional, service, sales and office occupations make up 74.1 percent of the workers here, while the rest consist of blue-collar jobs like production, transportation, construction, maintenance and farming.

Dr. Bruce Domazlicky, an economics professor at Southeast Missouri State, said the numbers show that the county is blessed with diverse occupational opportunities.

"If you look at the occupations, the only thing that stands out is the education, health and social services," he said. "Beyond that, the other sectors are very well represented. This means if one type of business lags behind, it won't drag the whole region along with it."

Almost all of Cape Girardeau County's numbers are consistent with state figures. There are no national figures to compare as the U.S. Census Bureau has not completed the counts for all 50 states.

One statistic that perhaps shows that the county, in general, features a good work ethic is the labor force, Domazlicky said. Of the 54,508 people over 16 years old in the county, 36,737 either have a job or are looking for a job. That gives the county a workforce of 67.4 percent, higher than the state average of 65.2.

The other 32.6 percent are retirees, homemakers and others who aren't seeking jobs. The county's current unemployment rate -- the percentage of people who want jobs but don't have one -- is 3.8 percent.

If Cape Girardeau County had the same percentage in the workforce as the state average, that would amount to 1,200 fewer workers in the county. That would take out three-quarters of the employees at Procter and Gamble.

"People here want to work," said Mitch Robinson, director of the Cape Girardeau Area Industrial Recruitment Association. "A lot of people may complain that there are not enough opportunities, but overall Cape Girardeau still provides the strongest opportunity for employment in Southeast Missouri and a lot of people come here for that reason."

Wooing new industry

Robinson said the workforce is one of the first criteria industries and businesses look at when they are thinking about expansion or relocation.

He said that businesses often seek places with high unemployment rates, but sometimes they realize that they'll have to lure employees from other businesses. Robinson said this region has a fairly mobile workforce that is willing to switch jobs for better pay and benefits.

Salaries in the county are very similar to the state averages. The median family income is $45,518, while the statewide figure is $46,044.

bmiller@semissourian.com

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