Does labor market information support my new program idea?

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Does labor market information support my new
program idea?

• Rachel Vilsack
• Coordinator of Special Projects

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Labor Market Information (LMI) Office

• LMI Office supports Minnesota's workforce and
  economic development system by producing and
  disseminating data, key indicators, analysis, and
  trends on the economy, workforce, job market, and
  business community.
• LMI's high quality information advises policy
  makers on current and future economic trends,
  helps employers make informed business decisions,
  and assists individuals in making strong career
  choices.
• www.PositivelyMinnesota.com/LMI

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What is labor market information?

• Labor market information is everything we know
  about where people work, what they do, who they
  work for, and how much they make.
• LMI informs the career and job search decision
  making process.

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Partnership with DEED

• Summer 2011 Began working with DEED
• Allows us to eliminate the high cost (for low
  usage) of EMSI software licenses in exchange for
  free, reliable data from DEED
• Chancellor Steven Rosenstones called for
  strategic initiatives across agencies
• Spring 2012 Developed and launched LMI
  Spreadsheet Tool

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LMI link on Academic Program Resources web page
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Labor Market Spreadsheet Tool
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Why the extra analysis?

• Legislation (2011) The Board of Trusteesmust
  place the highest priority on meeting the needs
  of Minnesota employers for a skilled workforce.
• Labor market evidence needed to be integrated
  into the Notice of Intent.
• Ensures consistency from all new program
  applications.
• Provides up-to-date regional data that can inform
  future program development.

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A simple tool

• With the customized Excel spreadsheet, you need
  only 2 things to perform an analysis
• The occupation (or SOC) code(s) that corresponds
  with your program
• 2. The region code(s) that represents your area
  

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Occupations

• Occupations are categorized using the Standard
  Occupational Classification (SOC) system.
• Detailed occupations are combined to form 461
  broad occupations, 97 minor groups, and 23 major
  groups.
• Occupations with similar job duties, and in some
  cases skills, education, and training are grouped
  together.
• This was an expansion of occupational
  classifications in 2010 data are being collected
  on new SOC codes.

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Regions
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...with useful results
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Results include

• Occupational and regional specific data around
• Occupations in Demand (OID) rankings
• Starting wage and salary
• Current employment and employment projections
• Typical training requirements
• Transferable skills
• Regional benchmarks

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Occupations in Demand (OID) ranking

• Occupations in Demand (OID) lists current career
  opportunities in a region as determined by
  regularly updated local labor market data,
  including job vacancy survey and unemployment
  insurance statistics.
• The OID list for a region is the group of
  occupations that rank highest on a Current Demand
  Indicator, which measures short-term demand for
  jobs locally.
• OID lists are updated twice a year for 13 regions
  of the state.

www.PositivelyMinnesota.com/OID
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Starting wage/salary current employment

• Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) is a
  federal-state cooperative to survey employers
  about the number of wage and salary workers in
  detailed occupations and about the wage
  distribution for those workers.
• Wage statistics are updated quarterly, and
  include average wages and wage distributions for
  10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, and 90th percentiles for
  about 800 nationally-defined job titles.

www.PositivelyMinnesota.com/OES
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Employment projections

• Projections compiled by both occupation and
  industry for the state and for six regional
  planning areas, measuring new job growth and
  replacement needs.
• The reliability of projections for individual
  occupations is subject to error due to the
  assumptions of the trend analysis method.
• These 10-year forecasts are updated every other
  year.

www.PositivelyMinnesota.com/EO
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Transferable skills

• Job Skills Transfer Assessment Tool (JobSTAT) is
  on-line data tool created to help job seekers
  explore occupations that are a good match to
  their previous work experience using a
  combination of skills, knowledge and abilities.
• JobSTAT identifies where gaps exist, offers a
  career profile, training information, and
  provides links to job openings posted on
  MinnesotaWorks.

www.PositivelyMinnesota.com/JobSTAT
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Typical training requirements

• New Bureau of Labor Statistics system provides
  information on what is needed to enter and to
  attain competency in an occupation.
• The new system allows an occupation to be
  assigned to multiple education/work experience
  categories.
• Economists used information from national surveys
  to look at workers educational attainment by
  occupation, and ONET, which asks workers and
  occupational experts questions related to
  education, work experience, and training.

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Occupational example
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Other considerations

• Additional steps ask users to
• Identify job openings that indicate this program
  is warranted
• Identify opportunities for career advancement
• Summarize your findings
• The completed analysis is attached to the Notice
  of Intent within Program Navigator.

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Demonstration
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Next steps

• This analysis will be a required part of the
  Notice of Intent for new programs.
• This analysis will not be the only factor in your
  programs application. Student Interest,
  duplication, etc. will also be taken into
  consideration.
• The format may change with feedback, as long-term
  plans include an online web tool.

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Speaking of web tool

• What do you like? What dont you like?
• In your opinion, does this tool give you enough
  information to understand the labor market demand
  for a potential new program?
• If you could include any additional pieces of
  information for program planning, what would they
  be?  
• Do you think the information presented in this
  tool is easy to interpret and use? If not, what
  would make the information in this tool more
  understandable?

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Question about usability

• Which of the following ways would you be most
  likely to search and select an occupation?
• Browsing a list of occupation titles/codes
• Browsing a list of program titles/codes
• Using a keyword search to find a program (which
  is linked to occupations)
• Using a keyword search to find an occupation
• Using the career cluster/pathways to narrow
  choices down to an occupation

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Question about format

• Thinking about the look and feel of an online
  tool, what features or functionality would make
  this tool easier to use?

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Ongoing support

• Rachel Vilsack, LMI Office
• rachel.vilsack_at_state.mn.us or [phone]
• Ron, Tamara, Marta in Academic Programs
• Labor Market Information Helpline
• deed.lmi_at_state.mn.us
• Greater Minnesota 1-888-234-1114
• Twin Cities [phone]