OUTLET: Daily Press
Did you know that only 7 percent of Williamsburg’s workers actually live there? Local economists point out in a new report that just because a city hosts certain jobs doesn’t mean that city gets all the benefit.
This point is echoed throughout the Hampton Roads Economic Development Alliance-commissioned report on economic co-dependence in Hampton Roads which was released Monday.
The report comes at a time when the Alliance is restructuring and still seeking a permanent new chief executive after Virginia Beach and other localities late last year questioned their return on investment — 95 cents a head — in the regional marketing arm tasked with bringing new business to the region.
Old Dominion University economists Vinod Agarwal and James V. Koch, who were paid $10,000 to conduct the study, found that 65 percent of the region’s workers live one place and work in another. For instance, Newport News has 13,893 workers from Hampton and Hampton in turn has 9,173 workers from Newport News.
This so-called interdependence has increased since the last time the Alliance ordered the study in 2009, when 61 percent of workers commuted outside their locality.
As to why more residents are living in a different place from where they work, Koch said Internet-based businesses, employers allowing flexible work schedules for less congested commuting and remote workers are all a factor. Home affordability and now tolls are also factors, he added.
In particular, when the Newport News shipyard is expanding, more people tend to cross the water to get to the single largest employer in the region, Koch said.
Essentially, workers are treating Hampton Roads as one city with options on where to live, including in rural, suburban and urban areas.
The study says that mentality differs from that of local government leaders, who seek landing a company or economic development project within their borders rather than realizing highly paid workers from a nearby employer could live and shop in their area. The desire to see tangible effects also is why hotels and convention centers get funded over education, Koch added.
“Because we are so interdependent, it makes sense to do economic development on a regional basis,” Koch said, adding the study was not per se an endorsement of the Alliance.
The Alliance’s Interim President and CEO Kevin Sweeney, who has been on the job six months, wanted an update on the data since the 2007-2009 recession.
Sweeney said he understands the challenge of marketing the region to attract both large companies where large tracts of land are available in the rural areas and to get high-tech firms to fill urban office space. Still, he said that diversity is also a selling point for Hampton Roads.
He’d like to get more feedback from private Alliance investors and large employers about their needs and have the Alliance analyze data for a laser-focused approach to recruiting jobs and investment. For instance, companies may want particular suppliers or partners nearby. The Alliance could also take advantage of state databases and studies on job clusters, he added.
“We have to work together. This is all about cooperation and collaboration,” Sweeney said. “We’re competing against other growing areas. We’re not competing against each other.”
By Tara Bozick. She can be reached at 757-247-4741.
