Potential for Increased Employment in Food Stores in Central City Milwaukee Neighborhoods

Abstract

The U.S. Census Bureau reports on business patterns by Milwaukee County zipcode areas. While 16 percent of the county's population resides in five central city zipcode areas (53204, 53205, 53206, 53212, and 53233), only 8 percent of food stores employing 100 or more workers in 1992 were located in these areas. At the same time that the five central city zipcode areas had over a third (34 percent) of the so-called "ma and pa" food stores, employing fewer than 5 workers, they had only 13 percent of the larger stores with $1 million or more annual sales in 1992. About 400 job openings were identified for workers in grocery stores, bakeries and other food stores during the Employment and Training Institute’s October 1995 job openings survey of the four-county metropolitan area. About half of these jobs were full-time and half part-time. Most were located outside the central city neighborhoods of Milwaukee.