PRINCE FREDERICK, Md. - The Department of Economic Development (DED) announced yesterday the results of their recent annual commuter survey.
Nine specific questions were asked in the survey about home and work location, commuting patterns, telecommuting, recruitment and skill sets. Based on the survey results, over 48 percent of respondents work in the private sector, 42 percent work for the Federal government and nearly 10 percent work for state and local government. This shows a slight shift over 2004 results when 46.8 percent of respondents reported working in the private sector, 44.5 percent for the Federal government and 8.3 percent for state and local government.
Most commuters work in Washington, D.C. (33.1 percent) while 26.3 percent work in Prince George's County, 11.3 percent in Northern Virginia and 13.3 percent in St. Mary's County; over 47 percent of respondents indicated that they commute more than 40 miles a day. Professions included information technology (13.9 percent), defense (13.6 percent), legal (8.3 percent), engineering (6.8 percent), finance (6.2 percent) and human resources (3.8 percent). Over 6 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.
While 61.5 percent of respondents indicated they were interested in telecommuting, only 31.7 percent of their employers offered this option. Individuals who requested more information on telecommuting will be contacted by staff at the College of Southern Maryland to explore options for establishing a program through the Prince Frederick Telecommuting Center. For more information on Southern Maryland Telecommuting Centers, call 301.870.3008 ext. 7628 or visit their web site at www.telecommutesomd.org/.
Approximately 60 percent of Calvert's labor force commutes out-of-county daily. The DED works to reduce that number by using the information gained from this survey to target industries to relocate to Calvert County and provide business assistance to existing County companies to help them grow and develop their labor force. The results are especially helpful as recruitment efforts continue for the Patuxent Business Park in Lusby.
Results of the survey are available to the public online at www.ecalvert.com or by calling 410.535.4583 or 301.855.1880 to receive a copy by mail.