SUMMER 2020 WORKING SESSIONS: LABOR MARKET INFORMATION FOR STRATEGIC PLANNING
CREC prepared the following materials, working with Fayetteville Technical Community College leadership, deans, and faculty to apply labor market alignment techniques to the College’s strategic planning. During the three working sessions, faculty and deans developed analytical workflows for assessing quantitative and qualitative labor market information (LMI). The sessions were presented/facilitated by CREC’s Ken Poole, CEO, Allison Forbes, Research Director, and Mereb Hagos, Research Analyst.
Click on the session tabs below to expand. You’ll find session resources–including video recordings, presentation PDFs, handouts, homework assignments, supporting video tutorials, and additional resources. All links open in a new tab for viewing and downloading.
Session 1: An Overview of LMI
June 18, 2020 – Session objectives:
- Discuss key concepts and uses of LMI
- Discuss self-assessments and goals.
- Perform a super sector review
- Identify opportunities/threats for key sectors.
Self-Assessment Survey Results (Zip file)
Session 1 Video Recording (1:34)
- 5:00: Overview of workshop goals
- 13:00: Observations about labor market alignment at FTCC
- 15:00 LMI overview: key concepts and uses for college planning
- 21:50: Examining the Cumberland County labor shed.
- 24:20: Key concepts for conducting LMI research (Industry, occupation, skills, job title)
- 31:25: Measures that matter in aligning curriculum programs with outcomes.
- 32:00: Reviewing participant pre-session self-assessments.
- 42:20: Understanding the regional economy: background, exercise, and live poll. (Includes discussion of NAICS taxonomy and where industry data come from).
- 51:23: Creating and using regional industry projections.
- 55:13: Exercise 1 – Using a data set supplied by CREC (found in presentation slide), describe current opportunities and threats in Cumberland County’s economy.
- Which industries may be most important to the College?
- What more do you want to know about the most relevant industries?
- 1:15:33: Shifting research focus from industries to occupations
- Discussion of Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) codes. To find data for specific occupations, visit www.bls.gov/soc/major_groups.htm.
- Where occupational data come from – Occupation Employment Statistics (OES)
- Determining occupation mix using industry staffing patterns
- Appreciating occupational projections
- Translating job titles to occupations
- Making the data more useful by narrowing the focus
- Defining a “living wage”
- 1:29:35: Exercise 2 – Working from 10-year employment projections for government-sector occupations, describe opportunities and threats in Cumberland County’s economy.
- Which of the occupations shown on the slide provides the greatest promise as focus for the college, based on:
- Education and OJT required
- Growth in the occupation
- Number of jobs available
- Wages offered
- How do these occupations relate to:
- The College’s strategic strengths and weaknesses
- Known trends in the occupation or related occupations.
- Which of the occupations shown on the slide provides the greatest promise as focus for the college, based on:
- 1:32:20: Next steps for upcoming sessions
Session 2: Using Labor Market Data to Inform Occupational Skills, Education, and Training Paths
July 2, 2020 – Session objectives:
Develop the labor market research skills needed for demand-focused analysis and forecasting:
- Identify key occupations.
- Identify related skills.
- Identify related occupations.
Session 2 Video Recording (1:10)
- 3:04: Overview of agenda for session; brief review of material covered in Session 1, including overall working session goals, key concepts, exercise/discussion takeaways, occupational approach to curriculum content and academic advising, and potential regional priorities.
- 13:00: A method for examining data–beginning and ending with the “big picture.”
- The decision flow process for identifying strategic opportunities (demand-based).
- Starting with what you do (Academic programming, CIP codes)
- From academic programs to occupations: Moving from CIP to SOC “crosswalk”
- From occupations to primary employing industries: Moving from SOC to NAICS crosswalk
- 19:33 Review of homework and report-out breakout discussion. (Industries most relevant to your program, five key occupations, how many workers needed each year and how many program is supplying.)
- What was the most important takeaway from the data?
- What surprised you?
- What challenges did you encounter?
- What do you want to know more about?
- 1:03:00: Assessing in-demand skills (Ensuring relevance to industry and driving program design and curriculum content)
- 1:08:00: Resources and tools for researching skills and credentials data–including emphasis on using O*NET Online. (Links included in presentation PDF, slide 28.)
- 1:17:00: Combining quantitative and qualitative data.
- 1:22:25: Discussion regarding finding employers and diversifying employer contacts.
- 1:23:05: Instructions for homework exercises:
- Exploring O*NET Online
- Reviewing key skills for key occupations
Session 2 Homework Assignment (PDF)
Emsi Sample Data Set: Public Service, Cumberland County
Video Tutorial: Using O*NET to Research Occupational Skills (Additional Resource)
Session 3: Using Research Findings to Guide Strategic Areas of Focus
July 16, 2020 – Session Objectives:
- Discuss labor market research findings and how they can guide strategic areas of focus.
- Establish a decision flow process for identifying strategic opportunities, through a demand-planning scenario exercise.
Session 3 Video Recording (1:15)
- 0:05: Discussion of agenda, brief review of working session goals, decision flow process for identifying strategic opportunities, and steps covered in data triangulation.
- 8:42: What is “real-time” LMI? (Using Emsi and other tools to analyze job postings)
- 10:23: Discussion of Homework Exercise 1: Using O*NET Online
- 21:22: Discussion of Homework Exercise 2: Reviewing Key Skills for Key Occupations
- 35:08: Identifying employers to engage
- Consider the results various actors are seeking.
- Consider the different actors in the talent pipeline.
- Discussion of U.S. Chamber’s Talent Pipeline Management (TPM)
- TPM talent supply chain or “pipeline”
- TPM employer demand estimates
- TPM employer hiring requirements
- 45:24: How does the employer research discussed tend to play out in practice?
- 47:52: Demand Planning scenario exercise (conducted in breakout groups): Determining a sequence of questions to guide inquiry/process for using data-driven evidence to guide programming recommendations.
- Objective 1: Validate employer demand for the occupation listed in the exercise (Contact tracing as a public health and social service).
- Objective 2: Evaluate the opportunity that the occupation represents for general education students.
- Objective 3: Determine whether FTCC is well-equipped to address the opportunity.
- 1:00:18: After this session:
- Recomendations/instructions for continued demand planning practice for labor market alignment;
- Recommendations to the FTCC board
Small Group Exercise: Demand Planning Scenario
Additional Scenarios for Practice in Demand Planning
Video Tutorial: Using Emsi to Research Job Postings (Additional Resource)