2  Core workforce spectrum

This chapter assesses the housing spectrum for the region’s core workforce. This includes all households where at least one member is employed at a job also located within the region.

Defining the “core workforce”

For every record of an employed person, the Public Use Microdata Sample (PUMS) includes a variable for the place-of-work Public Use Microdata Area (“POWPUMA”). Households with at least one person who has worked in the last 12 months and whose POWPUMA values correspond to the Fredericksburg area (Planning District 16) were designated as members of the core workforce.

Employed persons who work from home are included in this group.

2.1 Overview

Identifying the core workforce

Based on this definition, 125,312 workers are both employed and live in the region. This means that two-thirds of all workers who live in the region also work within Planning District 16, versus communities outside of the region.

Additionally, this data considers those who work remotely from their homes as commuting within the Fredericksburg region. Only 37,711 workers (20% of job holders) travel to Northern Virginia or Washington D.C. for work.

Figure 2.1: Place of work for job holders who live in region

When considering whole households, most are members in the region’s core workforce: 79,545 households (60.2%) have at least one earner who works around Fredericksburg. Only 23.2% of households in the region consist of both earners leaving for work outside Planning District 16. A smaller share (16.7%), composed mostly of retirees, have no active workers.

Figure 2.2: Households in the core workforce

Common industries and occupations

This core workforce is also primarily represented by people who work at private, for-profit businesses in the region (59.3% of workers). Smaller shares of the core workforce work for government entities, are self employed, or work at non-profits.

Figure 2.3: Class of workers in core workforce

Regionally, 36,834 workers are employed in the Retail and Wholesale (15%) and Professional Services (15%) industries. Healthcare and Social Assistance, as well as Public Administration and Military follow behind, and paint a picture for the kind of incomes the core workforce earns.

Table 2.1: Top five most common core workforce industry groups

Industry group	Workers	Percent
Retail and Wholesale	18,481	15%
Professional Services	18,353	15%
Healthcare and Social Assistance	16,261	13%
Public Administration and Military	15,594	12%
Education	12,278	10%

Across all industries, the most common professions include Administrative and Clerical Support work, along with Leadership and Management. Jobs in the region that involve sales, healthcare, and logistics are also commonly held by workers who live in the area.

Table 2.2: Top five most common core workforce occupational groups

Occupational group	Workers	Percent
Administrative and Clerical Support	14,226	11%
Leadership and Management	13,711	11%
Sales, Marketing, and Customer Service	12,655	10%
Healthcare and Medical Services	10,343	8%
Transportation and Logistics	9,176	7%

Income

Core workforce households are slightly more likely to have higher incomes compared to households where all earners have jobs outside of the region. However, more than 13,000 core workforce households (17%) have incomes below 50% AMI. A slightly larger share (18%) have low incomes between 50% and 80% AMI.

Figure 2.4: Households by workforce status and AMI

Household characteristics

Core workforce households have similar rates of homeownership compared to non-core workforce households.

Figure 2.5: Tenure by workforce status

Almost half of all core workforce households are headed by couples who both hold jobs in the region. A large share of those (and 20% of all core workforce households) do not have children under 18. These “Dual-Income No Kids” households (DINKs) often have strong purchasing power in the housing market.

Single workers who live on their own account for 12% of households in the core workforce. Single-earner couples with and without children are also common. Working single parents, however, are just under 5% of the core workforce.

Table 2.3: Five most common core workforce household types

Household type	Children	Earners	Percent
Couple	Yes	Two	23%
Couple	No	Two	20%
Individual	No	One	12%
Couple	Yes	One	8%
Couple	No	One	8%

Households in the core workforce have lived in their current homes for similar periods as the non-core workforce, with just under half moving within the last four years. Many non-earner households have lived in their homes for much longer, which corresponds to a significant share of those being older retirees.

Figure 2.6: Length of time in current home by workforce status

Affordability

The chart below shows the range of typical housing costs for the core workforce compared to other households. Dots represent median values, and lines cover half of all values centered on the median.

For incomes above 100% AMI, core workforce households spend similar amounts on housing compared to the non-core workforce. At most incomes below 100% AMI, the core workforce spends slightly less on housing than the non-core workforce.

Figure 2.7: Housing costs by workforce status and AMI

The core workforce experiences housing cost burden in a pattern similar to the regional averages for each income level. High rents paid by households under 50% AMI are the primary driver of this challenge.

Figure 2.8: Housing affordability for core workforce by AMI

2.2 Below 30% AMI

Most core workforce households living at 30% of AMI spectrum are individual earners with no children. Next is single parents households and then couples with children households with two earners at this income bracket. Overall, 7% of households with at least one earner are ELI households.

Table 2.4: Three most common core workforce household types below 30% AMI

Household type	Children	Earners	Percent
Individual	No	One	21%
Single parent	Yes	One	17%
Couple	Yes	One	17%

Extremely low income earners are the folks that keep the Fredericksburg running: laborers, cashiers, cooks, retail workers, etc. Additionally, it’s important to note that these households almost always have one earner.

Table 2.5: Ten most common core workforce occupations below 30% AMI

Ten Most Common Occupations
1. Customer Service Representatives	6. Nursing Assistants
2. Cooks	7. Maids And Housekeeping Cleaners
3. Cashiers	8. Laborers And Freight, Stock, And Material Movers, Hand
4. First-Line Supervisors Of Retail Sales Workers	9. Sales And Related Workers, All Other
5. Driver/Sales Workers And Truck Drivers	10. Retail Salespersons

2.3 30-50% AMI

Very low income households in the core workforce are also primarily represented by individual earners without children. Fifteen percent (15%) of VLI earner households are couples with children, then single parent households (13%). Of the core workforce spectrum brackets, VLI core workers hold the greatest share of single parents and the top three most common workforce household types are also households with only one earner.

Table 2.6: Three most common core workforce household types between 30-50% AMI

Household type	Children	Earners	Percent
Individual	No	One	19%
Couple	Yes	One	15%
Single parent	Yes	One	13%

VLI households hold similar occupations to the ELI core workforce.

Table 2.7: Ten most common core workforce occupations between 30-50% AMI

Ten Most Common Occupations
1. Construction Laborers	6. Retail Salespersons
2. Cooks	7. First-Line Supervisors Of Retail Sales Workers
3. Driver/Sales Workers And Truck Drivers	8. Stockers And Order Fillers
4. Cashiers	9. Other Managers
5. Janitors And Building Cleaners	10. Receptionists And Information Clerks

2.4 50-80% AMI

Low-income earners in the core workforce are primarily represented by households with two earners and children, followed by individuals and couples without kids. The low-income spectrum is where we start to see two earners in the households represented in the most common workforce types (39%), compared with VLI and ELI households.

Table 2.8: Three most common core workforce household types between 50-80% AMI

Household type	Children	Earners	Percent
Couple	Yes	Two	25%
Individual	No	One	16%
Couple	No	Two	14%

Low-income worker occupations overlap some with ELI and VLI households, but also see representation by educational and healthcare occupations like teachers and nurses. Education and Health Services are some of the most common industries in the entire core workforce.

Table 2.9: Ten most common core workforce occupations between 50-80% AMI

Ten Most Common Occupations
1. Driver/Sales Workers And Truck Drivers	6. Stockers And Order Fillers
2. Cashiers	7. Registered Nurses
3. Retail Salespersons	8. Maids And Housekeeping Cleaners
4. First-Line Supervisors Of Retail Sales Workers	9. Laborers And Freight, Stock, And Material Movers, Hand
5. Elementary And Middle School Teachers	10. Customer Service Representatives

2.5 80-100% AMI

Moderate income core workers are often couples with one or two earners in the household. Most of these households are couples with children (38%).

Table 2.10: Three most common core workforce household types between 80-100% AMI

Household type	Children	Earners	Percent
Couple	Yes	Two	28%
Couple	No	Two	18%
Couple	Yes	One	10%

Moderate income earners see greater representation from education industries, with elementary and middle school teachers with the most common occupation in this spectrum bracket. The occupations represented for households in this 80-100% AMI bracket appear to be professions with greater educational attainment.

Table 2.11: Ten most common core workforce occupations between 80-100% AMI

Ten Most Common Occupations
1. Elementary And Middle School Teachers	6. Waiters And Waitresses
2. Retail Salespersons	7. Secretaries And Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, And Executive
3. Software Developers	8. First-Line Supervisors Of Retail Sales Workers
4. Customer Service Representatives	9. Insurance Sales Agents
5. Other Managers	10. Landscaping And Groundskeeping Workers

2.6 100-120% AMI

Many above-average income households are couples with two earners (37%), with a large share of those having children.

Table 2.12: Three most common core workforce household types between 100-120% AMI

Household type	Children	Earners	Percent
Couple	Yes	Two	27%
Couple	No	Two	18%
Individual	No	One	9%

Interestingly, Cashiers are the most common occupation for those with above moderate income in the core workforce. As described below, as the highest share of these households contain two earners, it’s likely that cashiers and retail supervisors live with other high earners, increasing the overall income of the household. Occupations in this category appear less correlated to positions that require higher educational attainment.

Table 2.13: Ten most common core workforce occupations between 100-120% AMI

Ten Most Common Occupations
1. Cashiers	6. Other Managers
2. First-Line Supervisors Of Retail Sales Workers	7. Retail Salespersons
3. Driver/Sales Workers And Truck Drivers	8. Software Developers
4. Laborers And Freight, Stock, And Material Movers, Hand	9. Postal Service Mail Carriers
5. Elementary And Middle School Teachers	10. Teaching Assistants

2.7 Above 120% AMI

Working couples are the most represented household type for high income earners in the core workforce (more than 60%). Couples with no children but multiple earners would include adult-age working children living with their parents.

Table 2.14: Three most common core workforce household types above 120% AMI

Household type	Children	Earners	Percent
Couple	No	Two	30%
Couple	Yes	Two	25%
Couple	No	Multiple	11%

Much like above moderate income households, the inclusion of some typically lower-wage jobs here (e.g. cashiers) implies that many live with a second earner who brings in relatively more income.

Table 2.15: Ten most common core workforce occupations above 120% AMI

Ten Most Common Occupations
1. Other Managers	6. Retail Salespersons
2. Elementary And Middle School Teachers	7. Secretaries And Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, And Executive
3. Software Developers	8. Cashiers
4. First-Line Supervisors Of Retail Sales Workers	9. Financial Managers
5. Registered Nurses	10. Driver/Sales Workers And Truck Drivers