Cook County’s economy could use a boost. Helping everyone do better was the focus of a “Go Cook County: Creating Sustainable Prosperity for All” initiative discussed at a Business Networking Luncheon at Cook County Higher Education on October 31.
Jim Boyd of Cook County Higher Education explained that the initiative was launched about six months ago when a “small group” of community members started talking about a lack of business growth, a dearth of affordable housing, and the aging population in Cook County. They concluded that these were not sustainable trends.
To help them figure out what could be done, the group, which now has 22 participants, hired consultants Randy Lasky of the Northspan Group and Josh Bergstad of the Arrowhead Regional Development Commission. They were the luncheon’s featured speakers.
Randy Lasky said they just completed 110 interviews with a cross-section of the community to gather people’s thoughts on trends within Cook County. The “Go Team,” which has some of the same members but is not the same entity as the new Cook County Chamber of Commerce, will be focusing on “things we can control and influence,” said Lasky. They want to involve all sectors of the county and respond to national trends “without losing hold of the values that are important to this community,” he said.
Josh Bergstad characterized the county as a mix of two major groups: a growing retired and semi-retired population and a shrinking working population of young families.
In 2010, the median age in Minnesota was 37.4 and the median household income was $57,243. In Cook County, the median age was 49.8, and the median household income was $49,162. While $49,162 was higher than Cook County’s median household income had been in 1999 ($36,640), inflation counteracted the increase, Bergstad said. According to Bergstad’s PowerPoint, “Average [Cook County] earnings per job have stagnated, yet per capita income has increased.”
The number of wage-earning jobs in Cook County’s private sector decreased in the first decade of the new millennium. While 177 jobs were added in education and health services, leisure and hospitality lost more than 400 jobs.
“Small business is big in Cook County,” Bergstad’s PowerPoint proclaimed, with 62 percent of business establishments employing four or fewer people and 27 percent of those businesses being run by the business owner alone. In the 2000s, the percentage of private sector jobs represented by sole proprietors grew, but the percentage of total county income they earned decreased. While this shows a lack of employment opportunities, Bergstad said, it also shows that people living here have an entrepreneurial spirit and want to live here.
In 2011, government wages in Cook County averaged $37,063, while jobs related to providing services averaged $22,951. The overall average wage was $28,628. The average weekly wage was 59 percent of the state average. “This is largely due to the concentration of employees in the leisure and hospitality sector,” according to the PowerPoint.
While the average wage has stagnated in recent years, per capita income has actually increased, reflecting the growing number of retirees living on substantial retirement incomes. Over 48 percent of Cook County’s income comes from retirement, disability, Medicare, and Medicaid, and this percentage is rising.
In 2011, the median sales price of a home in Cook County was $225,000. In Lake County, it was $102,000; in Minnesota, it was $166,000; and in the U.S., it was $156,000.
Demographic projections through 2020 show a growing need for skilled services to meet the needs of the aging population.
Bergstad concluded that a lack of affordable housing is a significant issue for people in the workforce. The growth in the number of retirees, the increase in the percentage of sole proprietors, and the inflation-adjusted decline in wages shows that Cook County is an attractive place to live, he said. The growth of the older population will create a demand for higher-skilled, higher-wage jobs.
The luncheon concluded with comments and ideas from the audience. One person said she believed that huge economic development opportunities lie in locally grown food and the biomass industry. Another said, “We’re the Saudi Arabia of freshwater.”
Jim Boyd said the Go Team is putting out a survey this month, and they are hoping for at least 500 responses representing all sectors of the community.
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