CareerOneStop is a career information site sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor.

Lumina Foundation for Education, an Indianapolis-based, private, independent foundation, strives to help people achieve their potential by expanding access and success in education beyond high school.

Noted policy research firm MDRC (most recently in the news for its role in the Opportunity NYC program), has posted a thought-provoking concept paper about workers, WIA, and welfare. The paper provides a good overview of recent workforce investment history, the relationship of current policy to low-wage workers and welfare policy, and the sometimes double-edged effects of outcomes-based performance standards. It’s a little old (January of this year), but a good read nonetheless.

Read the full paper.

Local Employment Dynamics (Census): An attempt by the Census Bureau, in partnership with state labor market agencies, to make better workforce information available at the local level. Provides better integrated data than most other public sources.

Bureau of Economic Analysis: A central source for regional, state, national, and international economic information, including local area income, RIMS II, gross domestic product for states and MSAs by industry, and more.

EDPro Blog: Maintained by Ed Morrison of the Center for Regional Development at Purdue University, this news and analysis site is an excellent resource for economic development professionals.

Workforce Strategy Center: A national nonprofit that shapes policy and institutional change to create a market-driven workforce system, New York based WSC is a longtime partner of EMSI/CCbenefits.

Because individual businesses and entire industries are connected in a complex web of interdependent relationships, regional planners can never afford to make decisions based solely on changes affecting a single employer or industry sector. Any changes in one will have very real ripple effects not only on suppliers but also indirectly on local businesses that depend on the spending of affected employees. How will these indirect effects be addressed by the region’s government agencies, economic development council, workforce board, and community college?

Download the full document (PDF): Practical Input-Output Modeling

International Economic Development Council: The mission of the IEDC is to promote economic development worldwide through professional development resources and public awareness.

QCEW Data Tool: QCEW is the comprehensive census of payroll employment in the U.S., produced by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This single-screen tool allows users to access the dataset for multiple industries and geographies, although aggregation of the employment numbers remains rather awkward.