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.
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
The conventional wisdom is dished out to millions of students every year: You “need” a four-year degree in order to get a good job. However, with employers begging for more skilled (but not necessarily university-educated) workers, and with many bachelor’s grads finding themselves with few job prospects and a mountain of student loans, workforce and education professionals have begun to take issue with the common wisdom. Instead, they’re focusing on badly-needed “middle-skill” jobs—that is, jobs requiring some postsecondary education or training, but not a 4-year degree. An excellent overview of the issues can be found in the report “America’s Forgotten Middle-Skill Jobs,” produced by Skills2Compete and the Urban Institute.
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.
Representatives from EMSI, Maher & Maher, and the Newton, Iowa region will be presenting a session titled “The Integrated RIG Planning Process: Lessons From the First Regional Innovation Grant” at the U.S. Department of Labor’s Workforce Innovations 2008 conference. For those going to the conference and interested in attending the session, it is scheduled for Thursday, July 17th, at 9:30am—check your conference schedule for details.
Session summary: “Newton, Iowa and the Central Iowa region are a microcosm of the changes in the manufacturing industry. Learn how the region used workforce information intelligence and tools, along with carefully facilitated local intelligence, to form the region and lead a data-driven planning process focused on creating a different kind of economy. Understand the key aspect of ‘selling’ regionalization in an environment that is intensely political and local in its perspective.”
EMSI led the project’s economic and workforce analysis, contributing asset maps, industry focus reports, and a SWOT analysis. A summary of the session will be posted on EMSI’s web site after the conference.
EMSI would like to give advance notice that we will be dropping support for the Internet Explorer 6 browser (IE6) this autumn when we release the next version of Strategic Advantage. For the best experience with Strategic Advantage, EMSI recommends that all clients (but especially those currently running IE6) install and use the free Mozilla Firefox browser. However, EMSI also supports Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) and Apple’s Safari browser, which are also free for anyone to download.
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:
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
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.
EMSI has recently made available a new standard report for community and technical college clients. The “Program Justification Report” offers focused supply/demand information to help colleges decide if there is sufficient workforce demand to create a new career-oriented program or expand an existing one. Starting with a client-selected list of up to 15 occupations and any custom region of one or more counties, the report summarizes the regional, state, and national labor market outlooks for those occupations, then totals how many students in the area recently completed a award or degree in related postsecondary programs (at the client college and at all regional colleges). A significant shortage of completions compared to estimated annual job openings is an important indicator that the college should expand its program offerings in those fields.
To see a sample report and place an order, visit our Regional Reports page, or call us at 1-866-999-3674.
Approaches to worker recruitment in the 21st century are changing, but with the right information, an effective strategy, and expert execution, the opportunities for success are abundant. This is even true in the energy sector, which is expected to experience a wave of retirements and pressing worker shortages in coming years. By using detailed national and local data, one talent management consulting firm increased its client’s pool of qualified applicants by 400% in two weeks.
Read the full case study to find out how Brian Kelsey of Civic Analytics delivered a data-driven solution to a national talent management firm.
Strategic Advantage locates talent for the energy industry (PDF)
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