Calvert County DED Announces 2004 Commuter Survey Results

PRINCE FREDERICK, Md., -- September 03, 2004 -- The Department of Economic Development (DED) announced today the results of their recent annual commuter survey. The survey was distributed in June to each household in Calvert County and made available on their Internet site.

The DED asked 10 specific questions about home and work location, commuting patterns, telecommuting, recruitment, and skill sets. Based on the survey results, almost 47 percent of respondents work in the private sector, 44 percent work for the Federal government and 8 percent work for State and Local government. This shows a slight shift over last year’s results when 52 percent of respondents reported working in the private sector, 40 percent for the Federal government and 7.7 percent for State and Local government

Most commuters work in Washington, D.C. (33.9 percent) while 28.4 percent work in Prince George’s County, 13.3 percent in Northern Virginia and 6.9 percent in St. Mary’s County; more than 50 percent of respondents indicated that they commute more than 40 miles a day. Professions included information technology (14.7 percent), defense (9.2 percent), health care (7.8 percent), finance (6.4 percent), human resources (5.5 percent) and engineering (4.6 percent). Over 8 percent of the respondents indicated that they would be willing to help the DED recruit their organization to the County and more than 80 percent indicated they would prefer to work in Calvert County than elsewhere.

Calvert County boasts the first telecommuting center in Southern Maryland. While 59.6 percent of respondents indicated they were interested in telecommuting, only 31.2 percent of their employers offered this option. Individuals who requested more information on telecommuting will be contacted by the College of Southern Maryland’s telecommuting staff. For more information on Southern Maryland Telecommuting Centers, please call (301) 870-3008 ext. 7628 or visit their web site at http://www.telecommutesomd.org/

Approximately 60 percent of Calvert’s labor force commutes out-of-county daily. The DED hopes to reduce that number by using the information gained from this survey to target industries to relocate to Calvert County. The results are especially helpful as recruitment efforts have begun for the Patuxent Business Park in Lusby.

Results of the survey are available by clicking here (Adobe .pdf document) or by calling 410.535.4583 or 301.855.1880 to receive a copy by mail.

The DED received 218 responses While these survey results do not reflect the entire civilian labor force of 41,377 (March 2004), it does provide a good sampling of the commuting labor force. More detailed information about the civilian labor force is available in the annual “State of the Economy” prepared by the Calvert County Economic Development Commission.

For more information on the Calvert County, Maryland Department of Economic Development, our visitor sites and attractions and the services available to assist County businesses, call 410.535.4583, 800.331.9771 or 301.855.1880; or send an e-mail to info@ecalvert.com