Workforce Monitor Weekly - Sept. 19, 2021 - Labor Market Information, Education Design Lab, Invest in CCs

There is an enormous amount of labor market information readily available from numerous federal, state, and local agencies; for-profit companies; and nonprofit organizations outside of government agencies.

Education Design Lab (the “Lab”) is a national non-profit organization comprised of “researchers, doers, designers, and builders,” founder and CEO Kathleen deLaski says. “We’re testing the ideas that everyone is talking about on the ground. With our learning and employer partners, [tagged as the ‘coalition of the willing and able’], we’re testing out the ideas driving the new education-to-work ecosystem.” 

Although enrollment declines have been steep, there is still significant interest nationwide from students. According to national data from Strada Education Network’s Education Consumer Survey,  “an estimated 20.5 million working-age adults ages 25 to 64 say they intend to enroll in community or technical college in the next two years.”

North Carolina Biotechnology Center is expanding its reach to bring in people who may not have previously seen the industry as a career option.

Working with the Business + Higher Education Roundtable (BHER), Colleges and Institutes Canada (CICAN) and Abacus Data, HEQCO surveyed 201 employers, 2,000 working-age Canadians and 161 representatives from 105 postsecondary institutions across the country on their experiences, awareness and perception of microcredentials.

A new report by a group of educators and policy thinkers outlines a strategy for community colleges, urging them to step up in the wake of the COVID crisis.

Two new studies examine which degree programs at which institutions offer graduates the best chance of recouping their costs and repaying their loans.

One estimate says the bill would add $1.4 trillion to the U.S. economy over eight years, but without enough workers, efforts to strengthen roads and public transit could be set back.

Career relevance is a leading indicator of whether students say their education will be worth the cost. But faculty often lack the data to effectively connect classroom instruction to the evolving needs of the market — and learner’s career goals. In this paper, learn how skill-based market insight provides a way forward.

As Congress drafts budget reconciliation legislation, here’s a look at what the Center on Education & Labor is monitoring.

This presentation discusses best practices and strategies for employing the BILT model to energize employer councils through a structured process that prioritizes entry-level job skills. The presentation explains how the ITSS project grant uses that model in its work to update skill standards nationwide across multiple IT job clusters. This recorded presentation runs 22:55 minutes in length. PDF presentation slides are also provided. 

Career centers are developing new virtual programming to help students make up for the internships they lost to the pandemic.