Workforce by Age Range, Educational Attainment, Race/Ethnicity, and Sex by Census Tract.

It is important for local and prospective business entities to understand the workforce by these variables in order to understand the pool of talent and what surplus or deficit of individuals that the County presents, which may be felt by employers.

Age

Of the working-aged population, 35- to 44-year-olds emerge as the highest participatory workforce at a 81.7% participation rate. The rate drops among 45- to 54-year-olds at 76%, and falls as the age increases. The people aged 75 years and older have the lowest participation rate, with an average of 5.5%.

Race

In 2022, workforce participation rates in Erie County show a significant contrast among different racial and ethnic groups. The highest participation rate is among those identifying as "Two or more races," with 64.4%. On the other end of the spectrum, "Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone" has the lowest participation rate at just 4.7%.

Educational Attainment

In Erie County, workers without a high school degree or equivalent have a participation rate of 70.3%, this percentage is higher than the national average of 63.5%. The workforce participation rate for workers holding a bachelor's degree or higher was 80.9% being the highest participation average.

EVS analyzes the data in each topic category using indicators, which report a targeted and digestible number, rate, or amount to represent Erie County as a whole. While this does not cover every aspect of the topic, it assists in establishing Erie's performance relative to the prior year(s). The indicators for the Talent Workforce topic are:

This indicator measures the workforce participation rate across all demographic categories older than 16 years in Erie County for latest data year, as a percentage. The labor force participation rate is a measure of the active portion of an  economy's labor force. The trend for workforce participation is slightly down and worse from 2021 to 2022, with a reported drop of -0.4% within the County.

This indicator measures the percentage of the population 25 years old or older of Erie County who possess a bachelors degree or higher for the latest data year. The world is increasingly producing high‐skilled jobs, our region's ability to compete with workers and economies worldwide is dependent on having an educated workforce. The trend for Population with Bachelor's Degree or Higher is up and better from 2021 to 2022, with a reported increase of +0.08% within the County.

Data from the U.S. Census ACS as of 08/2024.