Featured Content

Labor Market Analysis for Site Selection (Updated and Expanded)

In this updated and expanded version of our previous site selection whitepaper, we talk about the need for labor market analysis for today’s businesses, challenges in using various public and proprietary data sources, and EMSI’s solution to facilitate instant access to detailed data.

Labor Market Analysis for Site Selection (Expanded) - PDF

Housatonic Community College: An urban renewal success story

Ten years ago, when Dr. Robert “Rab” Thornton became Dean of Outreach Services at Housatonic Community College (HCC), the college had slow enrollment growth, very little interaction with the local business community, and low visibility in the state legislature. His duty was to reverse this trend and effectively “make an invisible college visible.”

Thornton quickly realized that one of the problems behind this was that the college primarily focused on enrollment figures when talking about its community value, and not on what stakeholders were truly interested in—economic revitalization, bottom lines, and return on investment. They were not communicating because they were speaking completely different languages. This discovery spurred Thornton to redirect HCC’s outreach efforts by looking for new ways to communicate the college’s real value to the community and state.

Read the full case study (PDF): Housatonic Community College: An urban renewal success story

EmployOn job search now available in Strategic Advantage

EMSI is pleased to announce a partnership with EmployOn to provide job postings data to Strategic Advantage users. EmployOn continually monitors thousands of online job boards to create a detailed, up-to-date database of available jobs in any region, searchable by job title, skills, location, company, and more.

EMSI clients who opt for the additional service will be able to access a customized EmployOn job search portal directly from Strategic Advantage. The new capability will enhance Strategic Advantage by allowing users to go from a high-level view of a regional labor market to a detailed view of actual jobs available.

To learn more and order access to the EmployOn job search module with Strategic Advantage, contact EMSI at (866) 999-3674.

UPDATE (7/8/2008): EMSI and EmployOn have added the capability to search job postings by industry  (NAICS system) and standard occupation (O*NET-SOC system). This will dramatically increase the integration of the two companies’ data sets and allow for more advanced analysis.

Data Spotlight: EMSI paper on innovation clusters

EMSI economists have completed a new study titled “Identification of Knowledge and Innovation Clusters: A GIS Application of Concentration, Co-Existence, and Correlation.” The paper, which was presented at the Pacific Northwest Regional Economic Conference, identifies regions with a high level of high-tech industry clustering, human capital, and innovation.

These regional “knowledge clusters” were identified using several data elements:

• High-tech industry and industry clusters
• High-knowledge occupation clusters
• College degree attainment
• Patent generation
• Relative density of higher education institutions

After condensing all this information in to a single “innovation index,” the authors plotted a map of the hottest innovation zones in the U.S.

Download the draft paper (PDF): Knowledge and Innovation Clusters

New national impact study of Canada’s colleges and institutes

Canada’s colleges, institutes, and polytechnics contribute CA $123.2 billion to the country’s economy every year, according to a study recently completed by Economic Modeling Specialists Inc. (EMSI). The study, which was commissioned by the Association of Canadian Community Colleges, also showed that students who attend these institutions receive a 15% return on their investment in education, while taxpayer support of the institutions offers a return of nearly 16%.

 ”This report clearly demonstrates that Canada’s colleges, institutes, and polytechnics play a vital role in keeping Canada prosperous and competitive, as well as benefiting students and their communities,” said James Knight, President of the Association of Canadian Community Colleges. “They more than repay the investment taxpayers and their governments have made.”

Other key findings highlighted by the ACCC’s media release include:

• The average annual earnings of a student with a one to two-year certificate are $36,582, or 35 per cent more than someone without a high school diploma or GED, and 12 per cent more than a student with a high school diploma. The average earnings of someone with a two to three-year diploma are $41,937, or 54 per cent more than someone without a high school diploma or GED, and 29 per cent more than a student with a high school diploma or GED.
• Colleges, institutes, and polytechnics contribute nearly $123.2 billion a year to income in Canada’s economy, roughly eight per cent of a typical year’s economic growth.
• Canada’s current workforce is enhanced by approximately 512.6 million hours of past and present college, institute, and polytechnic training.
• Taxpayers see a real-money return of 15.9 per cent on their annual investments in the colleges, institutes, and polytechnics and recover all investments in 8.7 years.
• Canada also benefits from improved health and reduced welfare, unemployment, and crime, saving the public some $215.1 million per year.

ACCC has also made the full report and associated materials available online.