Why we work where we do…

By Hannah Wever
Review Staff Writer
Published: October 9, 2008

About half of the workforce that lives in Orange County works elsewhere. But swapping the out-of-county commute for a closer-to-home career may not be possible if the grass really is greener on the other side of the county line.
The most recent data available from Virginia Workforce Connection, a state-run labor market site, shows that about half of Orange County’s 15,886-member workforce commutes out of the county each day. And 2000 census data indicates that just 36 percent of county residents actually work in Orange County.
Gordonsville resident and Orange County native Jennifer Joseph is one of 24 percent of the county workforce who travels across county lines to Albemarle each day.
Joseph, a 26-year-old mother of two young children spends at least an hour a day commuting to her job as a medical office manager just outside of Charlottesville in Albemarle County. That commute time adds up to at least six hours per week she’d rather spend with her kids, she said. And the $60 per week-just in gas for her fuel-efficient commuting car-is money that could go into her savings, but doesn’t.
For Joseph, out-commuting still makes sense, despite her expense of dollars and time, because her take-home pay is better than what she could make if she found a job in Orange.
“There’s not enough to choose from in Orange and the salaries are lower,” she explained.
But given the chance, Joseph said she would much rather work in Orange. “If I could, I would,” she said. “If it was decent pay and benefits, I’d much rather be closer to home.”
Local businessman Ken Dotson said until there are better-and more numerous--opportunities for Orange County residents the mass exodus of local workers to other localities will continue.
“There’s not enough opportunity for people to stay here and work,” he said. “Our cost of living is high. That’s one reason why people have to go out of the area for opportunities, and we don’t have enough jobs for people here.”
Dotson said the eastern end of Orange, compared to other parts of the county, is conspicuously underserved by service industries, or “the things people need like doctors and insurance companies.” Despite being home to one of the heaviest concentrations of the Orange County population, areas like Locust Grove and Lake of the Woods have comparatively fewer places for folks to make money-or to spend it, Dotson said. The eastern end of Orange County has twice the population, but less than half of the services available to residents in the town of Orange, Dotson said.
“Right now, the services are being taken care of in Culpeper or Fredericksburg. And we’re losing opportunities because we don’t have the infrastructure in place, and people are going across the line,” Dotson said.
On well-known job-hunters’ websites like Monster.com and careerbuilder.com, postings for openings in Orange County are virtually nonexistent. There is precisely one opening for a job in Orange on Monster.com, and that’s for an entry-level customer support position. Careerbuilder.com looks about the same. A help-wanted site from Yahoo has seven postings for Orange County positions, but nearly none (two skilled labor, two entry level, and two part-time) are jobs that will pay to support a family or fund a retirement.
American Woodmark has one full-time opening in their manufacturing department posted on the company website. Orange County Public Schools are advertising for an elementary school teacher and a bus driver.
Orange County has three full-time openings: county attorney, librarian and purchasing tech; and two part-time slots: administrative assistant and childcare teacher’s assistant.
MPS has no openings posted on its corporate website, nor do Aerojet or RIDGID.
Over at American Press in Gordonsville, at the moment they’re not looking to add to their 195-member employee force either, according to human resources manager Mike Henshaw. But Henshaw said when his company wants to fill positions, he makes it a point to locate local candidates. 
“The benefit is that typically you get better reliability,” Henshaw explained. Variables that can normally keep employees at home--like snow or a broken-down car--don’t hamper a nearby worker’s ability to show up the way they would someone who lives one or two counties away.
And, Henshaw said, employees who play together stay together. Co-workers who know each other socially, and may have even grown up with one another, tend to create a synergy at work.
“When your entire employee base comes from a similar demographic, you end up with a harmonious workforce,” Henshaw said. 
While management of local companies might prefer a staff with a common denominator, there may not be offering the compensation to convince workers to stay in Orange. There are thousands of Orange County residents, like Joseph, who set out for work early in the morning and fight rush hour in Albemarle, Culpeper or Spotsylvania for a better salary than they can find in their hometown.
“I think it’s a trade-off,” Henshaw said. “There might be a slight wage differential, but that’s weighed against travel cost, travel time and that sort of thing.”