Exploring the Community Impact of the Essential vs. Non-Essential Industry Divide
Summary
And while the unemployment figures across the country are a testament to the virus’s sweeping, all-inclusive damage, the community impact on individual cities and regions remains unique. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) set out guidelines to help state governments determine the essential industries in their domain. Without the usual crowds of people wandering in and out of stores, amusement parks, beaches, and casinos, not only is revenue at an all-time low, but also millions of hospitality workers are now jobless. Interestingly, Emsi’s hometown of Moscow, ID is one of the top ten cities with a high share of non-essential jobs, as is Pullman, WA, a town just eight miles to the west. Using data from Developer, our labor market analytics software for communities, we found that Hanford is home to thousands of local, state, and federal government jobs, including the US Department of the Navy, a top employer in the area.