Workforce

Amherst, and the entire Buffalo Niagara region, is known for our productive and educated workforce. The Town is a major employer center in a metropolitan region that boasts 560,000 employees.  Overall employment in Amherst exceeds 100,000 employees, many of which commute from neighboring communities.  Anecdotally, the population of Amherst doubles during the workday.

Amherst is the regional location for Advanced Business Services (DOWNLOAD BROCHURE), boasting many large and small scale professional firms, ranging from GEICO to service and data center locations for M&T Bank and Blackrock.  Employers have the following advantages in accessing a skilled and productive workforce:

- 38% of the population holds an associate degree or higher
- With numerous four-year colleges within the metro area, recruiters have access to a yearly output of 28,000+ eager job seekers
- Dedicated workforce, boasting turnover rates that are half the national average
- Existing professional support services have competitive but reasonable wages. The average published customer service representative wage in Erie County is $23,432 per year.  The national average is $33,519
- Cost of living in Buffalo Niagara is 0.4% above the national average
- Buffalo Niagara is an easily accessible location that enjoys good infrastructure and regular, reliable and affordable air service
- Average commute time of 21.7 minutes, about 4 minutes shorter than the national average
- Highly redundant and reliable electric and IT infrastructure, with 80,000 miles of fiber optic lines

For those seeking a more detailed labor market report, our partners at Invest Buffalo Niagara developed commissioned a report on our workforce attributes (DOWNLOAD HERE) and an overview of the regional economy, labor force, and target industries.  Invest Buffalo Niagara can also provide a customized report by job category of existing labor force and payroll statistics.  Please contact us for further information.