Glen Oaks students enjoy an average annual income increase of $130 for every credit completed. During their working career, the average Glen Oaks student realizes an income increase of $3.30 for every $1 invested in tuition, fees, books, and wages given up to attend.  Students enjoy an attractive 15% rate of return on their Glen Oaks educational investment, recovering all costs within nine years.

See more on EMSI’s impact studies here.

PHCC’s impacts were highlighted in a recent article in The Tribune-Democrat newspaper.

Penn Highlands President Walter Asonevich said the results, based on 2008-2009 numbers, show that the college plays a significant role in the local economy by the people it employs and is a good investment for students on multiple levels.

“We are enriching the lives of students and they are earning increased incomes,” Asonevich said. “Eighty percent of graduates stay here and are active in the local work force and are generating revenue back into the community.”

Results show that the annual income of Penn Highlands’ students increases by $142 per year for each credit completed.

See more on EMSI’s higher-ed impact reports here.

The Lancaster County Workforce Investment Board‘s program has been so effective that it has been the recipient of 8-10% of the state’s Industry Partnership funding in the last few years. Last month, the WIB received an additional $990,000 through several grants from the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry to further support the productive Industry Partnerships.

“We’re one of a few states in the United States where there’s actually state money that’s put into funding incumbent worker training in an attempt to make companies competitive in the global marketplace,” said Scott Sheely, the Lancaster County WIB’s executive director.

The latest awards will help fund incumbent worker training in production agriculture, renewable energy, long-term care practice, manufacturing, and other key regional industries. Funds will also go to local Centers of Excellence, which focus on training as well as research and development, technology transfer, and entrepreneurial endeavors.

The thriving partnerships and training have been supported by EMSI’s labor market data and analysis. Sheely, who was responsible for putting the grant applications together, included EMSI’s 10-year industry and occupation projections as well as new and replacement numbers (which take into account retirements and other turnover). These datasets give the full employment picture for the region.

The data also help determine high-priority occupations, an important step because training funds can only be used to develop career paths for pre-identified occupations. Much of this process is determined by the state but workforce practitioners are able to give their local input as well. EMSI’s dataset allows Sheely to pinpoint other important, high-performing occupations in his region that may have been overlooked.

“A lot of times what will happen is that the percentage of jobs that will need to be hired in the next 10 years would increase by 20% because of retirement in certain industries,” Sheely explained. “That gives us enough data that we can go back to the state and say, ‘Purely on the basis of this unique data we would like to include (this occupation).’ We usually petition between 60 and 80 occupations beyond what the state automatically approves for us. So that’s a big deal, and having the independent data source is really the only way we could do it.”

More on the grant can be found at the Lancaster County WIB site here. For more from Sheely on developing the right industry focus, click here.

Mallon’s duties are centered on recruitment and expansion in health sciences, clean technology, and digital technology. The businesses he works with in these three sectors require skilled labor, and often an abundance of it. Says Mallon, “I use labor market data in virtually any serious or relevant business analysis or proposal that I do. Particularly in the three areas that I’m in, workforce is so critical because of the technology and the higher education requirements. It’s a core component of what we do.”

The workforce information that Mallon values most is data relative to wages (median, entry-level, etc.), availability, and educational attainment (from the associate’s to Ph.D. level). EMSI provides access to these needed figures in quick order, giving Mallon and his coworkers a leg up when they are inundated with research and proposal work.

“We did not anticipate being as busy as we were in August and September,” Mallon says. “And we got hit with so many requests for proposals that if I did not have a tool like that available, I would not have met timing deadlines. I mean it just wouldn’t have happened.”

For more on Greater Spokane Inc., visit its web site.

Click here for the case study in PDF format

RWA Looks at Demand-Side Competency Needs

Over the past few years Milwaukee-area employers, education providers, and workforce/economic development professionals have come to agree that the region’s approach to workforce training needs an update. The old system relied on helping jobseekers attain degrees or certificates rather than communicating with businesses about the sorts of competencies (knowledge, skills, and abilities, or KSAs) they really need.

To pave the way to a new workforce development strategy, a collaboration of southeastern Wisconsin organizations known as the Regional Workforce Alliance developed a unique and comprehensive “competency” study to take a closer look at the area’s skills needs.

An Example

To illustrate the importance of a new workforce training approach, Patricia Adrian—RWA’s research specialist/project manager—uses an example of an opening for a crew leader at a local production facility. The job calls for a college degree and project management certification, and a few area educational institutions help workers attain these certificates. But when it comes time to apply, qualified job applicants “don’t ‘feel’ right for the position,” Adrian says. After making the hire, the employer realizes its new crew leader has not been adequately trained, so it is faced with two options—reopen the job search or perform unplanned on-the-job training.

Adrian sums up the situation this way, “The employee is frustrated by their limitations when it seemed they had all the right qualifications. Educational institutions continue their existing programs of study, unaware that their students/graduates are falling short in the eyes of community businesses.”

By switching the focus to competencies rather than educational attainment, businesses can more easily find employees that fulfill their job requirements and workers can be more flexible in an uncertain job market.

EMSI Works with RWA to Identify Focus Industries and In-Demand Competencies

To accomplish this new vision, EMSI and project partners I-Open and Regionerate worked with RWA to:

• Explore a broad range of industries and occupations and understand their overall impact and importance to the nine-county region, which included northeastern Illinois;
• Organize the target occupations into either “production” occupations (those that are more technically oriented) or “service” occupations (those that are more socially oriented) to get a sense of the general orientation of the workers in the region;
• Analyze the competencies of the target occupations (using EMSI’s Career Pathways tool) to come up with an understanding of the relevant competencies (a.k.a. KSAs) for the region.
• Focus on how the core competencies can help planners in the postsecondary education system develop career pathways and guides for career transitions.

Visualizing the Data

A part of the analysis that a lot of people found interesting was that work that EMSI did with “radar charts,” which help decision-makers actually “see” the core competencies of occupations under consideration. According to Mike Mortell, RWA WIRED coordinator, “The radar charts really tell the story. You could see the skills that are needed for different careers, different occupations. … I just think it’s a powerful tool.”

The charts are just one component of what Mortell and Adrian hope will be a springboard to develop a common language that employers, educators, and workforce boards can use for linking students to jobseekers via the appropriate skills and knowledge. Applications for the data and charts include at career guidance level in high schools, one-stop job centers, and among program developers at colleges.

“We need new ways of communicating the complex competencies—knowledge, skills, and abilities—that characterize emerging occupations and new career pathways,” wrote Ed Morrison, a partner on the project and member of the Purdue Center for Regional Development. He and others contend that the work done with RWA is a good first step in the challenging process.

The RWA competency study can be viewed here.

If you are interested in a similar project for your region, contact Hamilton Galloway, EMSI’s consulting manager, at hamilton@economicmodeling.com or call 208.883.3500.

PDF of the case study: Mercury Marine retention effort

Nearly 1,900 Fond du Lac jobs at stake
By late summer 2009, Mercury Marine’s long-term future in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, was very much in doubt. The world’s largest producer of outboard boat motors was challenged by the downturn of the boating industry and was looking for contract concessions from the local union. An option for Mercury Marine executives was to move their manufacturing operation from Fond du Lac to Stillwater, Oklahoma, where it already had a smaller-scale site. The company’s corporate offices would possibly follow later.

One part of the three-pronged process that was necessary to keep Mercury Marine in Fond du Lac was a “yes” vote by the union on some contract concessions. The other two parts—local and state incentive packages—were being formulated well before an initial union vote took place in late August. The Fond du Lac County Economic Development Corporation (FCEDC) and other county officials were exploring all options to persuade the company that east central Wisconsin was its best option.

Economic impact results used as educational piece
From the start of discussions with Mercury Marine, FCEDC President Brenda Hicks-Sorensen emphasized the magnitude of the company’s impact to the city, region and state to decision-makers. She produced multiple EMSI economic impact reports to convey that the relocation of Mercury Marine would not just mean the loss of 1,900 jobs and the estimated 500 others the company was planning to add when the economy improved. EMSI’s impact figures showed that the departure of the county’s largest employer would result in the loss of an estimated 5,900 net jobs in Fond du Lac County and almost 8,000 jobs in the seven-county region through indirect impact on suppliers and government and business. The financial hit would be $353 million to the county and $450 million to the larger region due to a loss of annual earnings.

The impact figures were also used to inform city, county and state officials who were deciding on various incentive packages to offer Mercury Marine.

“We wanted to make sure stakeholders were making informed decisions based on reliable data with a true understanding of the impacts. So these numbers were utilized a lot with them,” said Hicks-Sorensen. “In fact, it was a number of the county board supervisors who asked if they could share this information with their constituents. So they really relied on this information that we provided them.”

Understanding the ramifications of the company’s exit from Wisconsin added an element to the process that ultimately proved effective.

Result: Mercury stays, will move hundreds of jobs from Oklahoma
Once Mercury Marine went public with its potential relocation, FCEDC decided to release the impact numbers. Hicks-Sorensen and her staff wanted area residents to understand how damaging it would be to lose the manufacturer.
“Because this ended up being a very public discussion, it was very important for us to be able to show the impact on the economy,” says Linda Berlin, FCEDC’s Director of Research. “This was also helpful in discussions with state and local leadership.”

The city and county eventually unveiled a $53 million incentive package to Mercury Marine. Ultimately, the union accepted the concessions, paving the way for the company to announce it was staying in Wisconsin – and elevating manufacturing job totals to 1,400 to 1,600 jobs between those from Oklahoma and anticipated new hiring in the next seven years.
Looking back, Hicks-Sorensen says, the economic impact reports changed the dynamic of the retention effort, particularly when the staggering job-loss numbers were made public.

“I think it allowed the community to rally around something,” she said. “Before, everyone knew that Mercury was important to the community, but I think it was a little bit shocking and it provided people with something real to get their arms around.”

Links and Media Resources
Fond du Lac EDC

Impact of Mercury Marine on Fond du Lac (PDF)

“Mercury Marine agrees to keep Fond du Lac plant,” The Business Journal of Milwaukee, September 4, 2009.

About EMSI
Economic Modeling Specialists Inc. (EMSI) is a professional services firm that offers integrated regional data, web- based analysis tools, data-driven reports, and custom consulting services. EMSI has served thousands of workforce, education, economic development, and other policy professionals in the U.S., Canada, and the United Kingdom, and the company’s web-based Strategic Advantage research and analysis suite is used by over 2,500 professionals across the U.S. For more information, call (866) 999-3674 or visit www.economicmodeling.com.

Cultivating a robust regional workforce for Georgia’s fastest-growing industries is the crux of the Work Ready Regions program developed by the Governor’s Office of Workforce Development. The initiative identifies the needs of businesses in regions of all sizes throughout Georgia and seeks to match those employers with appropriately skilled workers.

A key element of the grant-funded program is EMSI’s labor market data and occupational skills analysis. Steven Wilson, Work Ready Region Coordinator, uses EMSI to locate emerging and declining occupations inside the six fastest-growing industries in the state — aerospace, advanced communications, advanced manufacturing, bioscience, energy, and logistics. He also analyzes occupational competencies (knowledge, skills, and abilities) to see where displaced workers could transfer from struggling to healthy occupations with extra training and what programs exist in the area to accommodate that training. “Our main focus has been looking at occupations that are declining overall,” Wilson explains. “Textiles have been declining for four or five years now. And in those areas, we have a couple auto manufacturing plants that we’re trying to look to transition those textile workers into advanced manufacturing jobs.”

With EMSI’s region-specific data, Wilson has a starting point to work with technical colleges and the Georgia university system. Depending on the grant awarded, he could be partnering with a three-county region or 14-county area. Wilson says local practitioners throughout the state verify EMSI’s labor market data is accurate, even in remote parts of the state. “It’s uncanny with the more rural areas,” he says.

For a PDF of the case study click here

Growing list of start-ups turn to Center for assistance, space
Housed at Spartanburg Community College’s Tyger River campus in Duncan, The Center for Business and Entrepreneurial Development opened in late 2006 and quickly became a key economic development engine for Spartanburg County. It has provided workforce services, soft landings, small business incubation, and assistance with special projects to four expanding companies and furnished facilities to five other firms inside an 180,000-square foot warehouse and 16,000 square feet of office space.

The first tenant to manufacture a product in the facility, Master Precision Global, was provided 42,000 square feet in the Center and is projected to bring 120 jobs to the region, and other manufacturers have followed. “So far the Center has been very successful,” says Mike Forrester, director of economic development at SCC.

Despite the current activity, the Center is in need of an extensive renovation to accommodate more start-ups and better serve existing tenants. With enhancements in mind, SCC is applying for two major economic development grants that will help fund a $1.7 million remodeling project. An integral part of making a case for the grants—as well as identifying the best industries to target for future growth—is a recently completed study that measured the economic impact of the Center on the county.

Study shows the Center has helped create 5,000 jobs
Gina Misch, former economic development project manager at SCC, had read where other incubators and agencies calculated their return on investment and economic impact, and she knew the most powerful evidence would come through hard data. She was already aware that the Center had assisted in creating more than 2,300 jobs from November 2007 to June 2009 in Spartanburg County. Yet to get the complete picture of the Center’s impact, she used EMSI’s input-output model to:

1. Estimate how many additional jobs had come about indirectly;
2. Calculate the total job loss in Spartanburg County due to businesses retracting or closing altogether; and
3. Analyze the economic base (i.e. the basic and non-basic industries) of the county to see what sectors the county relies on.

The IO tool showed the accelerator brought nearly 2,700 jobs to the region through indirect impacts on other industries—the most coming in transportation and warehousing—for a total of more than 5,000 direct and indirect jobs. Misch then accounted for layoffs and business closures in the county and estimated that the total job loss (including the indirect impact) was 3,386. With the initial level of analysis complete, Misch had the concrete results she was looking for: The Center helped generate 1,621 net jobs, resulting in $58.7 million in earnings. “We were quite delighted to see the other industries that are impacted, as well as the earnings, with EMSI’s model,” she says.

Misch also differentiated in SCC’s report between basic industries (those that depend on income from outside the region and thus bring money in the region) and non-basic industries (those that circulate money already present in the region). Her analysis showed that almost all of the companies represented at the Center fit into the basic industries category, and therefore are real drivers of the economy. As the report states, these companies represent “a greater economic impact because [they] bring new income into the region, while also supporting local businesses via consumption through its employees’ earnings.”

Center moves forward on grant applications, attracting new firms
With the data-driven study complete, the Center is moving forward on applying for two grants—an $850,000 EDA grant and $500,000 Appalachian Regional Commission grant that would go a long way toward funding the renovation. According to Misch, “The report is the meat of being able to prove that the renovation project is well worth the money.” Forrester and other county stakeholders are also actively seeking new companies to attract to the Center, and the study has helped inform decision-makers on what types of businesses to seek and the economic impacts those firms would have on Spartanburg County.

About EMSI
Economic Modeling Specialists Inc. (EMSI) is a professional services firm that offers integrated regional data, web-based analysis tools, data-driven reports, and custom consulting services. EMSI has served thousands of workforce, education, economic development, and other policy professionals in the U.S., Canada, and the United Kingdom, and the company’s web-based Strategic Advantage research and analysis suite is used by over 2,500 professionals across the U.S. For more information, call (866) 999-3674.

For a PDF of the case study click here

Dayton works to overcome economic downturn

With the departure of major companies such as Fortune 500 NCR Corp. to Georgia and downsizing of other firms, the Dayton area has lost high-paying jobs and seen its unemployment rate nearly double to more than 11% in the last year. The region’s economic losses and excess skilled workforce prompted airport and city officials to emphasize economic development in their airport master plan. One of the goals is to attract industries to property surrounding the Dayton International Airport to strengthen the regional economy. Airport Director Iftikhar Ahmad also believed that a key to future economic success is identifying industries that would bolster the Dayton area’s supply chain.

The airport contracted with Gresham Smith and Partners of Nashville, TN, to complete the master plan, and GSP in turn brought on Janus Economics, a business location and economic development consulting firm, to complete a thorough economic development assessment of the airport area and four-county Dayton MSA. Janus and EMSI came together to create an unique, three-tiered approach for the study:

• A SWOT analysis to gauge the strengths and weaknesses in the region, and a targeted industry report to ensure city and economic development officials focus on attracting or growing businesses that work best given Dayton’s unique assets.
• A supply gap analysis for all industries in the region to determine which supplier industries have the biggest gaps between the local demand for products and the percentage of their inputs produced in the area.
• A matching of the labor needs of the major supply gap industries with the available workforce in the region based on knowledge, skills, and abilities embedded in the occupations and the highest-developed skill ranges.

Study shows medical-related industries are good fit

EMSI’s data and tools provided the basis for the industry and occupational analysis, as well the supply gap study that relied on input-output modeling. Robert Pittman and Jennifer Tanner, Senior Principals at Janus, also looked at the “transportation intensity” of different industries (again using EMSI data), since Dayton has a strong transportation infrastructure and industries that rely on air, rail, and highway transportation would naturally be good fits to locate near the airport.

With the data collection complete, Janus created a weighted average index based on the aforementioned economic and labor force variables and came up with the top 15 supply chain industries that would work best in the airport property. The top of the list included several industries related to pharmaceutical and medical/biological product manufacturing, which matched Dayton’s economic base since the area has a medical school and active pharmaceutical/medical cluster.

The study was completed in the spring of 2009, and the next step is for the city’s economic development team to market the results to prospective businesses. As for the project itself, Pittman says, “Blending EMSI’s data expertise with our economic development expertise and coming up with new approaches is what really made the study unique. It’s a neat story.”

In the Media

“Dayton Airport details new business plan,” Airport Business.

About EMSI

Economic Modeling Specialists Inc. (EMSI) is a professional services firm that offers integrated regional data, web-based analysis tools, data-driven reports, and custom consulting services. EMSI has served thousands of workforce, education, economic development, and other policy professionals in the U.S., Canada, and the United Kingdom, and the company’s web-based Strategic Advantage research and analysis suite is used by over 2,500 professionals across the U.S. For more information, call (866) 999-3674.

According to the study completed by the Workforce Boards of Metropolitan Chicago, 43% of the region’s jobs are of the middle-skill variety — that is, jobs that require some post-high school training or education but less than a bachelor’s degree. The report used EMSI data to compile regional labor market figures, education and training requirements, and anticipated earnings for a broad range of middle-skill occupations. “We really do credit EMSI in being able to get that data at a regional level to be able to produce the study,” says Jennifer Stasch, Executive Director for the Workforce Board of Northern Cook County and a member of the regional consortium.

The metro Chicago report comes in response to a Skills2Compete study, “America’s Forgotten Middle-Skill Jobs,” and the Obama administration’s challenge for every American to commit to at least one of year postsecondary education or training. It highlights EMSI projections that estimate 8% growth for middle-skill jobs from 2009-2014 in the metro Chicago area. Further, 41% of all new jobs in the region are projected to be middle-skill.

Although the highest demand among associate degree-holders is in the registered nursing field, one goal of the report is to show the variety of sectors outside of health care that need middle-skill labor. The highest-earning jobs include Correctional officers and jailers ($39 per hour) and Operating engineers ($35 an hour). Both occupations require, on average, moderate-term on-the-job training.

Observes Stasch, “We believe middle-skill jobs are the jobs that the workforce system, specifically WIA, is in position to support and train for in a relatively short amount of time. So we thought it was important to share that information with our workforce system.”

Click here to read the full study.