2012 AUGUST-MASHPEE EDIC Plan for Executive Park

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1 than double the Cape-wide average. Mashpee's minority population is primarily a mix of African- Americans and Native American Wampanoags. The surge in Mashpee's population has reduced the Town's diversity since the majority of the in-migration was white. The percentage of Native Americans living in Mashpee fell from 9.1 percent in 1980 to 4.9 percent in 1990. Mashpee's population is younger than that of Barnstable County at large. In 1990, Mashpee's "seniors" composed 14.5 percent of the population, high relative to the state and nation, but hardly as dramatic as the 22 percent Cape Cod average. Retirees were not the driving force behind the population explosion in Mashpee during the 1980s. In 1990, 61 percent of Mashpee's residents were of working age(18-64 years), a greater proportion than in Barnstable County as a whole. Economic Performance Trends in Cape Cod population, employment, and labor force growth have been consistently more positive than state and national trends. The Town of Mashpee experienced even more remarkable growth over the decade than did the County as a whole. The recession, however, hit Barnstable County hard as the region endured painful declines in construction- and manufacturing-related employment between 1989 and 1993. The region's unemployment over that period surpassed that of Massachusetts and the United States. Many Mashpee industries continued to show positive rates of employment growth even as those in the rest of Cape Cod declined dramatically; Mashpee's economic performance,however, gives some indication that all residents have not shared equally in its recent economic success. The demographic and economic growth of the 1980s has been a strain on Mashpee. Mashpee absorbed 4,184 new residents between 1980 and 1990. This influx resulted in significant growth of the Town's labor force, from 1,894 persons in 1980 to 4,626 in 1994. The economy was fairly successful in generating jobs throughout most of the mid- and late-1980s, but unemployment rates rose after 1990. Together with negative trends in income and poverty levels, high unemployment rates in the early 1990s suggested that: 1)the jobs upon which the Town's residents depend are somewhat volatile and 2)job creation has not kept pace with the growth of the labor force,or has failed to benefit some Mashpee residents. Mashpee experiences wide variations between winter and summer unemployment rates. Annual average unemployment rates do not show these dramatic swings, which understates the problem that seasonal unemployment presents to Mashpee residents. In 1993 and 1994, the annual average for unemployment fell, while seasonal unemployment actually rose, and the seasonal variance widened to a gap of seven percentage points between the January peak (13.2 percent) in unemployment and the low (5.9 percent) in the summer tourist season. Mashpee is a predominantly middle-income household community. Only 18 percent of Mashpee's households earn less than $15,000 per year, as opposed to 21.2 percent for the county, 19.9 percent for the state, and 27.3 percent nationally. A relatively small proportion of households earn over$50,000 per year, with the majority earning between$25,000 and$49,000 a year. Although Mashpee's 1990 median household income levels exceeded Barnstable County's by 2.4 percent, per capita income fell short of county levels by 11.5 percent. This, in part, reflects a higher average number of persons living in each household relative to other Cape communities, and suggests that the incomes of Mashpee families may not be adequate to meet the needs of dependents,primarily children. Since 1980, some of Mashpee's indicators of economic well-being have weakened relative to those of Barnstable County and Massachusetts. In 1980, per capita income in Mashpee was 5 percent greater than in Barnstable County and 2.4 percent greater than in Massachusetts as a whole. By 1990, per capita income 3