Nearly one-fourth of San Benito County’s workforce commutes into
the county from other areas, according to a new report from the
2000 Census.
The newly released report indicated that approximately 15,460
people work in the county, and of those, 11,909, about 77 percent,
are county residents, while about 3,551 workers, 23 percent, live
outside the county and commute into SBC.
Nearly one-fourth of San Benito County’s workforce commutes into the county from other areas, according to a new report from the 2000 Census.
The newly released report indicated that approximately 15,460 people work in the county, and of those, 11,909, about 77 percent, are county residents, while about 3,551 workers, 23 percent, live outside the county and commute into SBC.
Assistant County Administrative Officer Terrence May is analyzing portions of the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis to find trends that might help with future planning concerns.
“A total of 11,196 San Benito County residents commute to jobs outside the county while 3,551 out-of-county residents commute to jobs here,” May said in a written statement.
The report also indicated that a large percentage of out-of-county labor is needed to fill part of the void left by some of the 48.5 percent of the county’s workforce that commutes to other counties for work.
Developer Ken Lindsay said it is important for San Benito County to retain as many local jobs as possible and to attract more businesses.
“Our idea is to attract businesses and jobs. For every dollar that is earned here, it goes back through the local economy about six times,” Lindsay said. “If people go to San Jose for their money, then they will spend it outside of town.”
Lindsay said that spending retail dollars outside of the county hinders local economic growth.
“Because retail is actually the biggest tax generator for a community and that’s one reason to attract more businesses to the community,” he said.
Most of the commuter workforce is coming from Monterey County, where 1,187 people, or 7.7 percent, have jobs within SBC while 1,606 county residents commute to Monterey County to their place of work.
The largest imbalance can be seen in the 1,017 people who commute from Santa Clara County to work locally. Nearly eight times as many San Benito County residents, 8,054, commute to Santa Clara County on a daily basis to their workplace.
According to the report, San Benito County has gradually gone from an area in 1970 that produced enough jobs for 80 percent of the local workforce to a county that provides about 51 percent of its own workforce.
