Workforce Needs of Industry Clusters

1
Workforce Needs of Industry Clusters

• Paul Sommers and Deena Heg
• Evans School of Public Affairs
• University of Washington

2
Major Findings

• Examination of clusters and major occupations at
  a regional level has a strategic value
• Analysis of workforce needs of clusters can help
  in establishing priorities for vocational
  programs quantitative studies should be
  supplemented with employer interviews and other
  data
• Economic development can be promoted by tailoring
  workforce programs to meet cluster needs
• Flexible educational services are needed to meet
  employer and worker needs (time, location,
  approach)
• Highest wage occupations with short term training
  requirements may be good initial targets for
  WorkFirst programs
• Excess supply exists for some programs in all
  regions these programs should be scrutinized and
  downsized absent compelling evidence of employer
  need

3
Industry Clusters

• Groups of related industries located in a region
  of the state
• Different regions have distinct cluster
  strengths, and if the workforce system
  understands the needs of significant clusters in
  a region, economic development benefits will
  result
• Our report assesses cluster strength by region,
  provides occupational profiles for clusters, and
  suggests a methodology for assessing workforce
  needs of major clusters in a region

4
Dimensions of Cluster Analysis

• State divided into 6 regions
• Northwest, SnohKing, Pierce, Southwest, Spokane,
  Eastern
• Industry sectors grouped into 19 clusters
• Regional importance of clusters measured by size,
  growth, location coefficient, and wage levels
• Significant occupations identified for each
  cluster based on ESD industry - occupation
  profiles
• Projected annual demand (2005-2010) for
  occupations compared to annual completions from
  CTCs

5
Assessing Cluster Needs

• Five factors considered in assessing regional
  significance of a cluster
• Size employment in 2000
• Growth rate how fast cluster employment is
  expected to grow from 2005-2010
• Regional specialization the location
  coefficient for the cluster in a region,
  comparing percent of employment in the regional
  cluster to that nationally
• of Occupations paying living wage percent of
  occupations in the cluster that pay at least a
  living wage for a single adult (11.25 estimate
  from NPC Job Gap study)
• Ranking each criterion and adding the ranks
  establishes a measure of overall significance
  some analysts may want to emphasize certain
  criteria more than others

6
Highly Ranked Clusters and Major Gaps in
Occupations in those Clusters

• Northwest region Construction, Health Services,
  Software
• Construction carpenters painters construction
  equipment operators
• Health Services RNs LPNs dental assistants
• Software sales/marketing occupations computer
  occupational demand may be underestimated

7
Highly Ranked Clusters and Major Gaps in
Occupations in those Clusters

• Southwest region Construction, Health Services,
  and Education/Social Services
• Construction carpenters construction equipment
  operators painters
• Health Services RNs dental assistants
• Education/Social Services child care workers
  social and human service assistants

8
Highly Ranked Clusters and Major Gaps in
Occupations in those Clusters

• Snoh/King region Software, Aircraft, and
  Construction
• Software computer occupations sales
  occupations
• Aircraft computer occupations executive
  secretaries and administrative assistants
• Construction carpenter construction equipment
  operators painters

9
Highly Ranked Clusters and Major Gaps in
Occupations in those Clusters

• Pierce region Construction. Health Services,
  and Metal Fabrication/Machine Building
• Construction construction equipment operators
  carpenters painters
• Health Services RNs medical secretaries
• Metal Fabrication/Machine Building team
  assemblers clerical occupations

10
Highly Ranked Clusters and Major Gaps in
Occupations in those Clusters

• Eastern region Health Services,
  Education/Social Work, Transportation
• Agriculture little occupational data available
• Health Services RNs LPNs medical secretaries
• Transportation truck drivers clerical
  occupations

11
Highly Ranked Clusters and Major Gaps in
Occupations in those Clusters

• Spokane region Construction, Health Services,
  Wholesale Trade
• Construction carpenters painters construction
  equipment operators
• Health Services RNs LPNs dental assistants
• Wholesale Trade truck drivers sales
  occupations clerical occupations

12
Beyond Clusters

• Report also provides supplementary data for each
  of 12 Workforce Development Areas
• 25 Largest demand supply gaps
• List of highest wage occupations with short-term
  training requirements may be useful to
  WorkFirst programs as career ladder jumping-off
  points
• Occupations for which supply from CTCs is greater
  than the projected demand

13
Additional Analytic Steps

• Look at neighboring regions that workers might
  commute to or from
• Assemble other data from local or national
  studies that may be relevant
• Continuously engage local partners in strategic
  efforts
• Employers, industry associations, EDCs. WDCs,
  Labor, Chambers, other education training
  institutions, other workforce economic
  development partners

14
Overall Conclusions from Demand-Supply Analysis

• 56,470 annual openings expected for workers in
  occupations for which the CTCs could train
  students, compared to 19,035 completers
• The colleges do not train students in all of
  these fields
• In those fields with active college vocational
  programs, completers equal 81 of projected
  openings
• Bottom line the colleges are making a
  difference where they have chosen to focus, but
  opportunities exist to expand programs in a
  strategic way to support economic development
• Some programs are graduating more students than
  employers are expected to need there may be an
  opportunity to move some resources to more
  productive fields