The Workforce Information Council helps guide the development and improvement of the nationwide workforce and labor market information system. This system provides information on labor market trends and conditions, job outlook and wages, skill requirements of jobs, and a wide variety of other information that helps customers make decisions about their businesses, careers, training, and job search.
At this web site you can find information about the Council and its activities, about the workforce information system and about how to access workforce and labor market information for your local area, state, or the nation.
Information about the workforce, labor market, and careers in your local area, state, and the nation can be located by going to the workforce information portal.
News!
Workforce Information Council Turns Ten
On March 11, 2009, Workforce Information Council (WIC) Federal Co-Chair Jack Galvin welcomed the Workforce Information Council members, meeting almost exactly 10 years after the first WIC meeting held in February 1999. The ten year period has seen many changes and contributions to the workforce information system.
The workforce statistical programs have benefited by federal and state discussions in the full WIC meetings, Policy Council activities, special projects, and numerous conference calls aimed at improving the analysis, data, and information for the workforce. The coming year will see continued efforts to make improvements to key labor market information programs, increased federal/state capacity to analyze/report economic data, and facilitate improved career decision making -- living up to the WIC motto – Quality Information, Informed Choices.
The Workforce Information Council (WIC) held their first meeting of calendar year 2009 in Alexandria, Virginia on May 11-12. The agenda was filled with numerous reports and discussion on a variety of topics (many noted on this summary page and also in the meeting summary found in the Meeting Notes section of this web site). The subjects on the agenda followed the outline of the One & Five Year Priorities adopted at an earlier meeting.
The remaining WIC 2009 meetings will be held July 14-15 in San Diego, California and October 28-29 in Cleveland or Columbus, Ohio.
New WIC Study Group on Green Jobs Chartered
The proposed WIC charter for the Green Jobs Study Group was presented to the WIC in March by federal co-chair Dixie Sommers. Membership of the group was finalized in late March. Dixie is the federal co-chair and Bonnie Graybill of California is the state co-chair. They are on a fairly short time frame and have already started with their first conference call.
The charter for the WIC Green Jobs Study Group was adopted by the full WIC. Their objective is to develop a proposal (or proposals) on how the employment statistics system can respond to the needs for information about the number, types, and characteristics of “green jobs.”
The WIC Green Jobs Study Group seeks to accomplish three broad goals: (1) develop a measurable definition of “green jobs” and agree on a core set of items that need to be measured about these jobs; (2) develop alternatives for gathering and estimating this information on “green jobs;” and, (3) develop a specific action plan to collect and publish this information. Activities to address these goals are outlined in the attached charter Green Jobs Study Group final.
| Federal Members-- | State Members -- |
| Bureau of Labor Statistics: | |
| Dixie Sommers, Federal Co-Chair | Bonnie Graybill, CA, State Co-Chair |
| Patricia Getz | Nick Jolly, CT |
| George Stamas | Allyson Hathaway, CO |
| Rick Clayton | Rebecca Rust, FL |
| Employment and Training Administration | Frank Surdey, NY |
| Pamela Frugoli | Ed Legge, PA |
| Greg Weeks, WA | |
| Roger Therrien, CT |
The Green Jobs Study Group will provide the following deliverables: 1.A report to the WIC describing the issues and questions surrounding the measurement of “green jobs,” a recommended measurable definition of “green jobs”, and recommended measurement approaches and their related costs. The report should be in a format suitable for nationwide dissemination. 2.Conduct presentations to BLS and ETA leadership and State LMI directors on the results of the Study Group’s analysis and its recommendations. Their target completion date is June 30, 2009.
Impact of the Green Economy on O*Net
Pam Frugoli of the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) gave a short summary at the last WIC meeting of work ETA has been doing concerning “green jobs” (a workforce system framework for action). One such item within their framework was a project involving O*Net
Phil Lewis and David Rivkin of the National Center for O*Net Development discussed their “in-progress” work on green jobs (click here to see PowerPoint handout Greening of the World of Work: Implications for O*Net-SOC and New & Emerging Occupations). The purpose of their recent work was to assess the impact of the Green Economy and its related activities/technologies on the O*Net system.
On a related topic to O*Net, Keith Ewald of Ohio mentioned his work as a member on the National Academy of Sciences panel reviewing O*Net (two user forums were held on March 26 and April 17). He also described the letter of support signed by multiple users supporting the O*Net system. The National Academy report is expected to be completed later this year.
Everyone’s Going Green
There are multiple efforts going on to promote, discuss, and research the greening of America. Below are a several efforts and resources to explore further on Green Jobs.
California’s web site continues to be one of the best sources for information on work done on green jobs. The web site is www.labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov/?pageid=1032. Items included in the web site are: a digest of “Green” Reports and Studies; Green Analyses of occupations and industries; Green Conferences and Summit materials; Green Job Activities by state; Green Legislation, enacted or currently proposed; and Related Resources for understanding the Green Economy.
The Texas Labor Market and Career Information department of the TX Workforce Agency has published a report titled “Green Collar Workers and Other Mythical Creatures” www.lmci.state.tx.us/shared/PDFs/Green_Collar_Workers2.pdf.
The states of Oregon and Washington have administered surveys of “green” firms. Washington’s results have been published www.workforceexplorer.com. Oregon is still collecting data www.qualityinfo.org.
The Center for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL) has conducted a webinar on the topic and has some information posted to their web site www.cael.org. In their Community & Workforce Development section of their web site, they discuss many aspects of green jobs. The section talks about how to train dislocated workers for green jobs and provides access to a webinar discussing “Growing Green Jobs” held in early April.
American Community Survey
Scott Boggess and David Johnson of the Census Bureau presented to the WIC March meeting an overview of the American Community Survey (ACS). They discussed plans and data availability for the ACS (click here to see their PowerPoint presentation).
The March 6 Federal Register notice was referenced seeking comments on their 5-year Data Products (comments were due by April 20, 2009). They also distributed a copy of their users guide titled “A Compass for Understanding and Using ACS Data, What State and Local Governments Need to Know” (this is available online at their web site www.census.gov/acs).
BLS National LMI Conference
The BLS national meeting would take place this year in Cheyenne, WY the week of May 18. Members of the WIC at their March meeting provided several possible topics and agenda items for the BLS LMI conference (first in several years because of prior year budget constraints).
Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration (ETA) Activities
On February 24, 2009, Hilda Solis was confirmed as the new Secretary of Labor. Prior to her confirmation, Secretary Solis represented the 32nd Congressional District in California from 2001 to 2009. In Congress, she had many priorities including affordable health care, environment, working families, and clean energy jobs.
In early April 2009, President Obama nominated Jane Oates to be the new Assistant Secretary of the Employment and Training Administration (ETA).
ETA hosted a national Re-Employment Summit in Baltimore, MD on January 27-29. The Summit planning team did a great job pulling together a dynamic agenda with great presentations in plenary and workshops (all of which are online at the DOL/ETA web site http://reemploymentworks.workforce3one.org). There were activities relating to workforce information and from states who had submitted proposals for presentations at workshops, regarding work (and how Information played a part of state/regional/local efforts) they’ve been doing in regard to re-employment issues.
ETA recently announced their schedule for six Regional Recovery and Reemployment Forums through early June 2009 (see www.doleta.gov). In order of when they are scheduled: Chicago Region, March 31-April 2 in Kansas City, MO; Boston Region, April 28-30 in Boston, MA; Dallas Region, May 5-7 in Dallas, TX; Philadelphia Region, May 11-14 in Baltimore, MD; Atlanta Region, May 27-29 in Atlanta, GA; and, San Francisco Region June 2-4 in San Francisco, CA.
ETA has been asked to brief Senate staff on green jobs. Green jobs are a large part of the new stimulus plan passed recently by the new Congress (see the Economic Stimulus Recovery Package, www.recovery.gov).
WIC State co-chair Graham Slater sent a “dear colleague” letter to state LMI directors encouraging them to take advantage of this unique opportunity to assist the workforce system in many ways with information and applications of data and analysis to assist jobseekers and to strategic planning. Graham referenced applicable items from the ETA issued Guidance Letter. Graham used the example of how Oregon is using workforce information to address reemployment issues.
ETA’s www.workforce3one.org has been updated with many references to workforce information. He highlighted the new WIN WIN Network Community of Practice page for producers, Innovators, Suppliers, and Consumers. He also discussed the Local Employment Dynamics (LED) partnership with the Census and the meeting held in early March in Washington, DC.
Workforce Information Portal
The Workforce Information Portal is an on-line resource, providing customers with a one-stop access point to workforce information sources on the web. The portal provides quick access to state on-line workforce information and career information sites, as well as national resources. This one-stop access point is especially important to customers who want information from more than one state, or are not sure where to go to get information for their state or locality.
The portal gives the customer different avenues to web resources: by type of customer (individuals, businesses, and researchers), by geography, or by agency. The links also include web sites for kids. The site is at www.workforceinfo.org.