Mower County seems to be in a unique situation.

It is the only Minnesota county outside of the metro area to be the headquarters of a Fortune 500 company. That company, Hormel Foods, employs 2,500 people.

The county also has the largest increase income disparity in Minnesota, according to the 2000 Census. In 1990, the income disparity rating was slightly higher than 39, but increased 13 percent to 44.88 in 2000. This is slightly higher than the statewide rating of 42.45.

Because Hormel is located in a county with a population of 36,800 people, by throwing in a few highly-paid residents, it will skew the numbers as far as income, said George Brophy, director of the Development Corporation of Austin.

"When you look at a county of 37,000 and you add one or two or 10, there's a significant change," Brophy said.

Julie Craven, Hormel Foods director of public relations, said if Hormel were located in the Twin Cities, employees would be spread out over many counties and the disparity would not be as apparent.

"It's a different economic profile than in larger cities," Craven said.

Bruce Henricks, Mower County human services director agrees.

"Initially it was a surprise, but it makes sense," he said of the census results.

He said caseloads in human services are actually lower in Mower County compared to others.

"The really raw census data doesn't say a whole lot about people in poverty," he said.

The general well-being of those living on lower incomes is not below average, he said.

He said recently, however, it has been harder for residents to find full-time employment in Mower County.

Liliana Silvestry-Neilon, executive director of the Welcome Center, has noticed it takes newcomers three to six months to find employment.

"They come here hoping to find a job immediately," she said.

But she said low employment is a nationwide problem. "Really, it's impacting everyone," she said.

Mower County needs more opportunities for employment, Silvestry-Neilon added. Because of the economy, smaller businesses stopped opening, she said.

Brophy said the DCA tries to encourage businesses to develop by offering them loans or equity investments. That way the businesses get a boost and will hopefully become successful.

The DCA was involved in building the Cooperative Response Center, which brought about 60 more jobs to town, half of which require some sort of higher education, he said.

On Tuesday Brophy said he stopped by the CRC and talked with two college-educated employees in their 30s. The young men had come to Austin for the job opportunity at CRC.

"I thought to myself, this is the kind of development we need, the kind of people we would hope to draw in," he said.

He would like more businesses to move to Austin, but in reality businesses take advantage of the DCA every couple of years.

"I'd like to find a way to get many companies to come here. The fact is, they don't," Brophy said.

Tom Smith, executive director of the Austin Housing and Redevelopment Authority says the demand for lower-income housing has increased. "I would say there's been an increasing demand. We have more housing to offer … more subsidized housing to offer … but our waiting lists aren't any longer than usual."

Smith doesn't foresee the HRA initiating any more housing developments in the near future. "I feel we have an adequate supply of subsidized housing right now and we don't want to interfere with the private market.

"Our intention is to keep our housing healthy and not overbuild so there are a lot of vacancies."

Everyday, residents come to the Welcome Center who are having a hard time paying bills, Silvestry-Neilon said. Now that winter is on its way, the demand for assistance with costs of living will increase, she said.

"There's an increase in the number of people looking for help," Silvestry-Neilon said.

The Herald newsroom staff can be reached at 434-2230 or by e-mail at newsroom@austindailyherald.com