• A high proportion of workers expressed interest in evening or weekend training, with 41 percent of women and 30 percent of men available evenings (sometimes after first shift, often after 5:30 p.m.). About 20 percent of respondents showed interest in weekend training.

  Times Preferred for Training

  	Men	Women
  Anytime	13%	22%
  Weekends	18	21
  Weekdays	16	9
  Weekday afternoons	8	4
  Weekday mornings	13	4
  1st shift	2	4
  Specific weekdays	2	2
  (Sub-Total)	(41%)	(23%)
  Weekday evenings	22	32
  2nd shift	8	9
  (Sub-Total)	(30%)	(41%)

  *percents exceed 100 due to several times indicated.

• Residents interested in further training included high school non-completers, high school graduates, and persons with some college and technical training.
  Graph 1: RESIDENTS WANTING TRAINING

• Even though the survey was conducted in December when the official unemployment rate was at its lowest for the year (4.1 percent for the City of Milwaukee), over half (54 percent) of all central city working age households reported at least one person who was interested in finding employment or looking for a different job.

  Profile of Central City Job Seekers

  44% - unemployed high school dropouts or high school graduates with no postsecondary training

  15% - unemployed high school graduates with some postsecondary training

  19% - employed with current employer for less than a year

  7% - employed for at least a year, no postsecondary training

  14% - employed for at least a year, some postsecondary training

• Most (86 percent) job seekers expressed an interest in receiving assistance in finding employment.

  Assistance Requested by Job Seekers
  job listings, identify existing openings direct placement services or access to job recruiter training to qualify for other jobs finding transportation to jobs, list of jobs on bus routes preparing resumes developing job search skills arranging job interviews, preparing for interviews English instruction, help translating

• Ninety-five percent of unemployed job seekers had actively sought employment during the last four weeks and nearly three-fourths (73 percent) had placed one or more applications directly with an employer. Almost two-thirds (64 percent) of employed workers looking for different jobs had completed job applications for one or more employers during the four week period. Most so-called "discouraged workers" who were interested in employment but not engaged in active job search were over thirty-five years of age and evenly split between men and women.

• Job seekers who were high school dropouts or high school graduates without postsecondary education showed the highest rates of unemployment or short-term employment.

• The most common methods job seekers used were initiated on their own -- using the want-ads, contacting other workers about possible openings, and placing applications directly with employers. Almost half of the job seekers used all three of these methods.
  Graph 2: METHODS USED TO LOOK FOR EMPLOYMENT

• Use of Job Service has increased since the Job Centers were established in Milwaukee, according to a comparison of survey responses in 1994 and 1996. Use of temporary employment agencies by central city job seekers has also increased. About a third of persons registering at Job Service also applied at a temp agency during the month.

• The median wage sought by central city workers was $8.25 for employed job seekers and $7.00 for persons without current employment. A third (33 percent) of all job seekers would accept less than $7.00 an hour, 42 percent needed $7.00 - 9.99, and 25 percent needed $10.00 or more an hour.
  Graph 3: PAY NEEDED BY CENTRAL CITY JOB SEEKERS

• Central city workers were asked which community agencies or centers they had used in the past for help in finding jobs. The most frequently mentioned sources of employment assistance were temporary employment agencies. Nearly a third (31 percent) of residents seeking help identified temp agencies as the source of their help, compared to 23 percent identifying Job Service or a Job Center, and 19 percent naming a community-based organization or non-profit agency. Approval ratings were at the same level (59 percent favorable) for temp agencies, Job Service and the CBO's.

• Temp agencies received generally favorable reviews by central city households, with many residents praising their job placement activities but criticizing the temporary nature of the employment. Eighteen different temp agencies had been used by survey respondents.

• Residents identified finding a job, access to job listings, and counseling as benefits received from Job Centers and Job Service offices.

• About one out of five residents seeking assistance turned to a community-based organization or non-profit agency. A total of 22 different organizations were identified as sources of help. Again, the experience with these agencies was generally positive -- with 59 percent of respondents indicating that they found the CBO's and non-profit agencies helpful.

• A number of families indicated that youth under age eighteen were looking for employment. The average pay sought by teens under age eighteen was $5.25 an hour. Most of these teens also expressed an interest in taking a job training program either after school or on weekends.

• Interest in taking the bus to work was high. Nearly all job seekers (96 percent) without a car were willing to bus to work, and 69 percent of job seekers with a car were willing to bus to their job. When asked what transportation workers would prefer to use if they found a job outside Milwaukee County, most workers with cars preferred to drive or car pool with other drivers. Workers without cars were open to using the bus (39 percent), van pools (25 percent) or car pools (20 percent).

Survey Methodology

Interviews were conducted in nine zipcode areas of central city Milwaukee: 53204, 53205, 53206, 53208, the southernmost part of 53209, 53210, 53212, most of 53216, and 53233. Only households with an adult under age sixty were interviewed. The margin of error for a sample of this size is plus or minus 4.5 percent, at a 95 percent confidence level. Interviews were conducted in English and Spanish on weekdays from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m., on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and on Sundays from noon to 5 p.m. (No interviews were conducted during Packer games.) Analysis of the 1990 U.S. Census data for the Milwaukee inner city public use microdata sample (PUMS) area suggests that a household phone survey will capture relatively more employed and full-time workers and fewer unemployed and part-time workers.

Partners in the Milwaukee Labor Market Project include the City of Milwaukee, Milwaukee Public Schools, Milwaukee Area Technical College, Private Industry Council of Milwaukee County, and the Employment and Training Institute of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Funding support is also provided from the Milwaukee Community Outreach Partnership Center of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Helen Bader Foundation.