Author: Jeff Rosenthal
LMI Tuesdays just may very well be the best thing to happen to Tuesdays since the advent of either Taco Tuesday or Two for Tuesday on the radio. On the first and third Tuesdays of each month from 11.30 to 12:00 (or when the last question is answered), LEAD will present some aspect of Labor Market Information (LMI) for 15-20 minutes. We will reserve the remainder of time for questions and discussion of the topic at hand or any other LMI or economic subject people are curious about. We are doing this to better serve all the hard-working people working on the front lines of our workforce, economic development, and education systems, and in the planning rooms helping North Carolina’s economy thrive. We are also seeking to build what social scientists call ‘social capital’- which can serve as network ties amongst people with interest in LMI working across the state. These network ties can help us share information and facilitate professional development.
Since we began on May the 4th, the force has indeed been with us- we’ve had over 500 unique people attend our first 12 sessions! Topics for our sessions have thus far included:
- What is LMI and how can I use and interpret all that data?
- What are 5 things everyone in workforce & economic development should know about the unemployment rate?
- How do we distinguish between industries and occupations? What are staffing patterns, and how can we use them to help people find work?
- Why are geographies important to consider? What is a location quotient? Which different types of geographies exist for LMI data?
- What are employment projections, and which industries and occupations are growing across the state and sub-state regions? How can we use projections data?
- Why is it so much harder to find workers these days? What types of jobs should I pursue and how to use supply and demand data to understand these and similar questions.
- How can I get the latest LMI for my workforce development boards? (Through our new regional Labor Market Overviews/Dashboards)
- What jobs and skills are needed in the future? How can I help jobseekers and students explore their career options?
- What does the current Industry Landscape look like in North Carolina, and where do we project future growth?
- What do North Carolina’s commuting patterns look like? What is an interconnected market? Do workers live and work in the same county, and if so, has this changed over the past 20 years?
- What does our updated D4 (Demand Driven Data Delivery System) do?
- What resources does LEAD and the NC Department of Commerce have for LMI?
Through these sessions, we have been asked a variety of questions, which we hope to develop as a resource on our website.
In future sessions, we have plans to cover more tools and topics with a variety of formats including panel discussions with other voices and viewpoints, command performances, and sessions that solely focus on people’s questions- like virtual office hours!
If you have interest in LMI Tuesdays- please feel free to join us on any first or third Tuesday in each month at 11.30. If you have interest in seeing slides from previous sessions, please click here. If you have recommendations or requests for topics or guest presenters- please feel free to email me directly at: jeff.rosenthal@nccommerce.com, and we’ll try to work it in.
Thank you all for your continued interest!