Recent economic unrest has caused many people to rethink career paths and education choices. But even before the Great Recession began, substantial shifts were starting to occur in national college completions.
Since the early 2000s, there’s been a spike in health care degrees, large dips in computers and engineering technology, and slowdown in the education field. [...]

Glen Oaks Community College in Centreville, Mich., contributed $86.7 million in added income to the south central Michigan economy in FY 2009, according to new EMSI impact study. GOCC released details of the study, which highlighted the higher earnings for students and increased output of businesses as a result of the college.
Glen Oaks students enjoy [...]

A familiar story is unfolding in nearly every state. Most legislatures are currently in session, and lawmakers are agonizing over cuts to state education budgets.
By now politicians are well versed in anecdotal evidence on the importance of investing in education — from early development classes through college. But what about definitive numbers on the return [...]

Michael Mandel’s recent blog post on higher education attainment rates and earnings is worth a look. Mandel showed that more college grads are earning advanced degrees but fewer are getting doctoral degrees. And perhaps most eye-opening is that earnings for Ph.D. holders have fallen 10% since 1999.

Mandel’s thoughts sparked us to take a look at [...]

Results of an EMSI socioeconomic impact study show Pennsylvania Highlands Community College is a major economic driver in its region, contributing $49.7 million in FY2008-09 in added income and helping associate degree-earning students make $414,000 more over their working lifetime than someone with a high school diploma.
PHCC’s impacts were highlighted in a recent article in [...]

One of the most successful Industry Partnership programs in the United States is found in Lancaster County, Pa., where each year 3,000 to 4,000 workers are retrained to address skill gaps and help local companies remain competitive and productive.
The Lancaster County Workforce Investment Board‘s program has been so effective that it has been the recipient [...]

Gary Mallon and his colleagues at Greater Spokane Incorporated focus their economic development and chamber of commerce efforts not just in Spokane and Eastern Washington but also throughout a extended region that includes North Idaho. When it comes to searching through the diverse area for available, highly-trained workers—a “core asset” to the region, according to [...]

In this EMSI video, Josh Wright and Josh Stevenson walk through the new updates to two of our web-based tools — Career Pathways, which is dedicated to skills and career exploration, and Educational Analyst, which helps planners assess training programs. These changes include a smoother, more user-friendly interface for analyzing re-employment scenarios, looking at occupation [...]

Illustration by Mark Beauchamp
By Scott Sheely, Executive Director
Lancaster County Workforce Investment Board
Background
For many years employment in US manufacturing has been in sharp decline. Domestic manufacturers have scaled back, outsourced, or just plain closed down. As a result, US manufacturing has become the “less desirable” industry sector for many workforce boards, economic developers, training providers, and [...]

In southeastern Wisconsin, the methods and strategies that have been used in workforce development for years are changing. By emphasizing skills-based training rather than educational attainment, a cross-section of groups is seeking to put businesses, educators, and jobseekers on the same page.
Click here for the case study in PDF format
RWA Looks at Demand-Side Competency Needs
Over [...]