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THE ECONOMY <br />Study shows Just how far <br />workers will drive <br />Kathy Novak is <br />an economic <br />analyst in the <br />DIED Policy <br />Analysis Office. <br />w. <br />I- joiA.<y <br />mBt ‘ 1 <br />BY KATHY NOVAK <br />I abor market littks between the T win <br />I Cities and Greater Minnesota are <br />■ stronger today than they were in <br />1980. An estimated 56.000 workers <br />from Greater Minnesota were employed <br />in the Twin Cities in 1988. an increase of <br />64 percent from the 1980 census. <br />According to a recent survey, the <br />number of workers commuting into the <br />Commuting Counties <br />for the Twin Cities <br />Metro Area <br />IZ ■' ^ <br />PERCENT commuting <br />Afp.1 I Lms lhan 4*i <br />Afe.i 2 5Sl£l2’» <br />Alfa 3 More than <br />Twin Cities was more than total employ ­ <br />ment in Duluth, Greater Minnesota’s <br />most populous city and the fourth largest <br />city in the state. <br />The Minnesota Department of Trade <br />and Economic Development (DTED) <br />sur\eyed 1,270 employed residents of <br />three areas outside the Twin Cities <br />metropolitan area to determine where <br />they worked. Greater Minnesota <br />counties were grouped into study areas <br />on the basis of the percentage of com ­ <br />muting employment in 1980. Since <br />Commuting Counties <br />for the St Cloud <br />'—w n Metro Area <br />A Crow Winq <br />B Mpnnrpin <br />C Isanti <br />0 Mfftifr <br />E Mill*? Uics <br />F Mpmson <br />G Ramsey <br />H Roseau <br />1 Sw'lt <br />j Todd <br />K Wnqhl <br />legend <br />■ Commulinq Couf'lirs <br />■ St Cloud Metro Area <br />1980. growth in commuting has occur ­ <br />red in Areas 2 and 3 (see chart). The <br />resident work force in both of these areas <br />also has increased since 1980. As a <br />result, a larger snare of ar. e.xpanded <br />Greater Minnesota work force is now <br />employed in the Twin Cities. <br />Sixty percent of all Greater Minnesota <br />commuters live closest to the Twin <br />Cities metropolitan area in rtrea 3. <br />where 44 percent of the resident work <br />force is employed in the Twin Cities. <br />Destination: <br />St. Cloud <br />A t. Cloud, central Minnesota’s <br />^ largest city, is also a commuter <br />W destination. According to a <br />recent study, 34 percent of the <br />employees of Si Cloud industrial <br />businesses live outside the city of <br />Si Cloud. Ninety-six percent of the <br />employees of these firms live in the <br />Si Cloud metropolitan statistical <br />area, that includes Benton, Steams <br />and Sherburne counties. <br />The reaiaining 4 percent of the <br />employees who commute from out ­ <br />side the greater Si Cloud area <br />come from 49 communities in 11 <br />counties. There is an overlap of <br />commuting between Si Cloud and <br />the Twin Cities. Benton, Steams <br />and Sherburne counties all are in <br />the Twin Cities labor market area. <br />Some of the commuters who work <br />at the Si Cloud industrial busi ­ <br />nesses live in the seven-county <br />Twin City metropolitan area. <br />These findings are based on <br />a survey co-sponsored by the <br />Si Cloud Area Economic Devel­ <br />opment Partnership Inc and the <br />Si Cloud Area Planning Organi­ <br />zation.