Phone survey to ask about jobs

Washington residents will soon be surveyed about their jobs through a telephone call from Iowa Workforce Development (IWD). Four hundred people in and around Washington will receive a call in early September to ask them about facts pertaining to their job such as how far they commute and how willing they are to change jobs. The surveys are anonymous and the people chosen to participate are called at random.

Iowa Workforce Development is collecting the data as part of a LaborShed Analysis of the Washington-Iowa City-Cedar Rapids corridor. Washington Economic Development Group (WEDG) director Ed Raber said the information from the surveys is useful to local employers because it tells them how to attract employees and where to look for employees.

?Some of the questions they?ll ask about will be about wages,? Raber said. ?Suppose someone makes $12 an hour. Would they change their job if they were paid $12.10 an hour? Most people would say that?s too much hassle, but they might change their job if they got $14 an hour. That?s useful for understanding the transitional nature of the work force.?

The survey will ask respondents how far they would be willing to drive. This helps determine what towns an employer can expect to find workers in.

Raber said the survey will include homemakers, too.

?Homemakers are an important element of the survey,? he said. ?At some point when the kids get old enough, homemakers might re-enter the work force.?

Raber said that many businesses have already received the survey in the mail. The random phone calls are meant to include the workers, too. This is the second time that such a labor study has been done in Washington. The first was in 2010.

The LaborShed Analysis area and regional reports will be available to businesses and the public later this fall.