Labor Market Information: Investing in programs with promise
Labor Market Information: Investing in programs with promise
Training students up in career paths that have promise is extremely important to us at MDCP. We want our students to gain top notch skills in areas that will equip them for well-paying, family-sustaining, local, in-demand careers. We do our students a disservice if we train them up with state of the art basket weaving skills, when nobody is planning on hiring basket weavers. We also fail our local industry if we train up students with skill sets they’re not looking for in their employees. Industry partners need our students to be trained in the skills they actually need in order to improve their company’s economic longevity and success.
There are multiple ways that we do this, but here are three important ones:
We hold advisories every year in every sector to acquire real-time industry-specific information directly from our industry partners.
We send teachers on job shadowing experiences, externships, and site visits to see industry in action.
We analyze regional labor market information (LMI).
I’ve found that LMI can be tricky. The first problem: for years, it has been difficult to even get my hands on data specific to the High Desert. Secondly, the data can be super confusing - spreadsheets and queries from different years, sector names that change based upon the report you’re looking at, etc. Thirdly, often when I would discuss LMI reports at advisory meetings, the data wouldn’t match the real-time feedback from industry partners.
Last year, we were able to acquire a license to Chmura’s JobsEQ which enables us to pull reports as desired on local jobs, trends, employers, etc. It’s not perfect, but it’s a significant piece of the puzzle. Now we’re able to pull localized reports when needed and can compare them with what we’re hearing from the field and what we see in other reports.
However, I also learned that many decision influencers, both in education and beyond, desire a better understanding of LMI, where to access it and how to digest it, so the best programs could be offered regionally. Now, there will always be programs that capture students’ hearts and curiosity and may not be tightly aligned to a burgeoning market opportunity. However, it is our burden in education to ensure we are modifying our programs to ensure they are focused on in-demand skills and opportunity, which all our stakeholders need. MDCP and all of our districts take aligning to industry very seriously. While it isn’t something that necessarily happens overnight, it is something we continue to prioritize so our students and our region is poised for long term success.
Parents, too, want this information to best guide their children towards optimal career opportunities. Industry partners, likewise, want to better understand LMI so they can shape their recruitment and long term planning strategies.
Thus, I asked Andy Page, our Data Guru, to whip up a resource that would give some basic LMI 101, Tips, & Suggestions. Her resource is included below. I hope you find it useful. Please feel free to share this with others as is helpful. The more we understand LMI, the better we’ll be able to position our region for long term, significant success. And please - ask us questions and challenge us with your labor market information needs. It will help us and our programs get better.
Matt