Housing Characteristics

The number of housing units in the six towns was up by 3.9 % between 1990 and 1994. Almost all of this increase in the number of housing units was for vacation and seasonally occupied housing units. The six town study area has one of the highest rates of seasonal housing in the state at 44.7 percent of all housing units. The state-wide average is 11.4 percent. Almost 45 percent of all seasonal housing units in the state in 1990 were located in the Lakes Region. These six study area towns more than double their population during the summer months due to both seasonal occupancy and vacation use of these housing units.

Table 2: Seasonal Housing as a Percent of Total Housing Units

One of the advantages which the greater Ossipee area has in promoting economic development is the relatively low cost of year-round housing.

Table 3: Median Housing Costs for Study Area and State in 1989.

Work Force, Employment and Commuting Characteristics

Employment located in the six towns was up by 2.5 % between 1989 and 1994 according to data from the New Hampshire Department of Employment Security. Almost all of this growth in employment ocurred during 1993 and 1994, following a period of declining employment levels.

According to the 1990 U.S. Census of Population, residents of the six towns who were employed during 1989 were:

more likely to work in the following industries than workers state-wide: agriculture, forestry, mining, construction, retail trade, recreational services, health services, other services and public administration; and

less likely to work in the following industries than workers state-wide: manufacturing, transportation, utilities, wholesale trade, banking and finance, insurance and real estate, and educational services.

Tourism-related employment, mining and construction stand out as being far more important in the study area than state-wide. Ossipee's role as a county seat also is apparent in health services and public administration.

According to the 1990 U.S. Census of Population, residents of the six towns who were employed during 1989 were:

• more likely to work in the following occupations than workers state-wide: sales, services, farmer, forester, precision worker, craftsman, operator and laborer; and
• less likely to work in the following occupations than workers state-wide: executives, managers, professionals, technicians, and administrative support.

The occupations that are above average are more likely to be blue collar than white collar. They reflect the importance of tourism, construction, mining and manufacturing in the local economy. As discussed in Porter's Competitive Advantage of Massachusetts, blue collar jobs are particularly susceptible to foreign competition without continued employee training programs and improvements in productivity.

Residents of the six towns who were employed during 1989 were far more likely to be self-employed and slightly more likely to work in government than residents state-wide. They were less likely to work as employees of private sector employers than residents state-wide.

Residents of the six towns who were over the age of 16 in 1989 were far more likely to be not in the labor force or to be unemployed than were residents state-wide. The larger percentage for the six town of those not in the labor force reflects the larger share of the population over the age of 16 who are retired. However, the larger percentage of area residents who were unemployed during 1989 and also of working age reflects the high level of economic distress which had started to hit the greater Ossipee area economy during 1989, earlier than it affected most of the rest of the state.

Educational levels for residents over the age of 24 in 1990 are slightly lower in the six town study area than state-wide. This points to a critical need within the general education field (as opposed to postsecondary education) for a GED program to be offered in Ossipee where the share of population over age 24 who have not graduated from high school is far higher than shown above for the study area.

For other members of the work force, the major educational need is for college level employee training programs to be offered at a location nearer to Ossipee than is currently the case. While the UNH College of Lifelong Learning does offer courses in North Conway, those seeking technical college course offerings must travel to Laconia, Concord, Dover, and Durham.

The pattern of net commuting to work flows for residents of (and also for those who work in) the six towns during 1990 is not unusual for New Hampshire. Most of the work force is employed within a fifteen mile radius of their home and many of the self-employed work out of their own home.

Almost all of those who work in the balance of Carroll County work in either North Conway or Wolfeboro. Most of those who work outside of Carroll County are commuting to Meredith, Laconia, and Plymouth. Only a few people commute to jobs as far as Concord and eastern Massachusetts. Thus, it appears that those few who commute to a job in Boston are widely known within their local community as there is the general belief that many residents commute to jobs in Massachusetts and the New Hampshire seacoast area.

This relatively limited commuting radius shows the strong linkage between employment and residency within Carroll County. In more remote areas of Grafton and Coos Counties, one-way commuting trips of over 30 miles are common. It also shows that there is an opportunity to reduce the leakage of resident household income to Wolfeboro, North Conway and more distant shopping centers as such a large share of the work force both lives and works within the six town area. Studies of WalMart shoppers indicates that 60 percent of shopping occurs closer to one's place of work than to one's residence. If this percentage were to hold for the study area, there should be far more retail sales and the purchase of consumer services within the six town area. If Ossipee were only slightly larger, a WalMart would be under construction there by now. The new RiteAid drug store in Ossipee reflects this potential market demand.

Personal and Household Income Levels

Per capita incomes for residents of the six towns was up by 11.1 % between 1990 and 1994, but below the rate of inflation of 13.4 %, based on data available from the U.S. Census and from Sales and Marketing Management's Survey of Buying Power for Carroll County. Per capita income in 1994 is estimated to be almost the same for the study area as state-wide: $23,640 for the area and $23,680 for the state.

Due to smaller average household size described above, the average (mean) household income in 1994 is estimated to be 13.5 percent lower for the study area than state-wide: $53,663 for the area, and $ 62,042 for the state. Mean household income (which gives more weight to higher income households) is higher than median household income, which better represents a typical family. The sources of this average (mean) household income are quite different for the study area than state-wide as shown in Table 8.

When the sources of this average (mean) household income shown in the preceding table are adjusted for the number of workers and recipients of unearned income, the study area has below average earned income and above average unearned income. The higher amounts of unearned income reflect the larger share of the total population which is retired who reside in the study area.