Workforce Information Grant Annual Performance Report

A Summary of New Products, Services, and Partnerships Formed During Program Year 2017

Program Year 2017

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2017 WORKFORCE INFORMATION GRANT ANNUAL PERFORMANCE REPORT

Introduction

The U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (ETA) funds

annual grants to the states to analyze, develop, and distribute essential state and sub-

state labor market information (LMI) for job seekers, employers, economic developers,

and others.

Maryland receives ETA funds by means of the Workforce Information Grant (WIG). The

WIG is managed by the Office of Workforce Information and Performance (OWIP),

Division of Workforce Development and Adult Learning of Maryland’s Department of

Labor, Licensing and Regulation (DLLR). OWIP is essential for the collection, analysis,

dissemination, and interpretation of labor market data for Maryland, its counties, select

cities, zip codes, and other smaller areas.

The Labor Market Information (LMI) team within OWIP serves the primary function of

providing workforce and economic data and analyses, so users can make informed

decisions on matters ranging from individual choices to workforce and economic policy

direction.

This report provides an overview of the work conducted with ETA’s Labor Market

Information Workforce Information Grants to States (WIGS) during the 2017 program

year (July 1, 2017, through June 30, 2018). Maryland expends WIG funds during the

program year to upgrade and maintain traditional labor market products as well as

introducing new products and services to assist our stakeholders. These funds were used

to accomplish the core deliverables and activities which include the dissemination of

crucial labor market products and responding to requests for labor market information.

OWIP’s mission is to collect, analyze, and produce labor market and workforce

information as a service to businesses, job seekers, students, workforce and economic

development programs and their community of service providers in Maryland. OWIP

follows the following guiding principles to meet its clients’ needs:

Partner with the workforce and economic development community,

Develop and deploy new information solution tools and systems for the workforce

and economic development community,

Provide products and services that are client and demand driven, and

Be recognized as an important and reliable source for information solutions that

support economic workforce development goals and outcomes.

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2017 WORKFORCE INFORMATION GRANT ANNUAL PERFORMANCE REPORT

Workforce Information Database (WIDB)

Maryland’s Department of Labor, Licensing, and Regulation is currently operating with

version 2.7 of the Workforce Information Database (WIDb) in accordance with the

guidelines issued by the Analyst Resource Center (ARC). Geographic Solutions, Inc.

developed a Virtual One-Stop (VOS) as a method to create, upload, and house

information included in the WIDb. The WIDb serves as a repository of labor market and

other economic information for the LMI team and the end user. The WIDb serves as a

foundation for economic data delivery and research information. Data uploaded to the

WIDb resides on the Maryland Workforce Exchange.

To ensure the WIDb is up-to-date and all Analyst Resource Center-designated core

tables populate with all relevant data, OWIP practices the following measures to ensure

data uploaded to the WIDb and VOS is in a timely manner:

Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) files update monthly, which

include residential labor force, employment, and unemployment statistics.

Industry data, Current Employment Statistics, is updated monthly, while the

Quarterly Census of Employment & Wages (QCEW) is updated quarterly on the

WIDb.

Occupational data, the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) program, is

updated annually on the WIDb.

As per the Training and Employment Guidance Letter 4-17 (TEGL4-17)

developed by ETA, the WIDb is updated annually with the latest short-term

(two-year) industry and occupational projections as well as biennially with the

latest Maryland long-term (10-year) industry and occupational projections.

The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) is updated

annually. This data system forms the institutional sampling for other National

Center for Education Statistics (NCES) surveys, and provides the basic data

needed to describe and analyze trends in postsecondary education in Maryland.

IPEDS data includes the number of students enrolled, staff employed, dollars

expended, and degrees earned.

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2017 WORKFORCE INFORMATION GRANT ANNUAL PERFORMANCE REPORT

Industry & Occupational Projections

In accordance with TEGL4-17, OWIP’s projections economist completed Maryland’s

short-term annual industry and occupational projections and the long-term biennial

industry and occupational projections. Both projections methods follow the procedures,

software tools, and guidelines established by the Projections Consortium and the

Projections Managing Partnership (PC and PMP). Submissions to the PC and PMP for

the review of Maryland’s short- and long-term projections were completed in March and

June of 2018 respectively. As required by TEGL4-17, the industry and occupational

projections are accessible via the Projections Central website and Maryland Department

of Labor website.

Introduced to projections in PY 2017, the separations methodology supplants the

replacement methodology. The purpose of both methodologies is the same – to provide

estimates of workers who leave their occupation and need replacement with new

workers. The replacement methodology only captured workers who stayed in one

industry or occupation until retirement or death. The separations methodology takes

into account an evolving workforce. Along with death or retirement of a worker,

separations also include a worker that leaves their occupation for reasons other than

retirement or death, such as changing careers, promotions or completing a retraining

program.

2017 2019 Numeric Percent

All Industries &

Occupations

2,799,239 2,840,992 41,753 1.50 0.75

Maryland Short-Term Industry & Occupational Projections, 2017 - 2019

Employment Jobs gained Annual

growth rate

2016 2026 Numeric Percent

All Industries 2,726,394 2,937,678 211,284 7.70 0.74

Maryland Long-Term Industry Projections, 2016 - 2026

Employment Jobs gained Annual

growth rate

Maryland Long-Term Occupational Projections, 2016 - 2026

Employment Jobs gained Separations Total

Available

Jobs 2016 2026 Numeric Percent Exits Transfers

All Occupations 2,726,394 2,937,678 211,284 7.70 1,209,778 1,639,218 3,060,280

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2017 WORKFORCE INFORMATION GRANT ANNUAL PERFORMANCE REPORT

Annual Economic Analysis & Other Reports

Based on customer, stakeholder, and end-user surveys and consultations, OWIP uses

WIG funds to update, develop, and disseminate reports and other publications. Reports

and publications are produced monthly, quarterly, and annually, both internally and

externally. Every external report and publication is accessible on the Maryland

Workforce Exchange publications page. Below are examples of a few highlighted reports

and publications. Click the highlighted name or icon to view the entire publication.

Internal Reports

Changing Maryland Jobs Report - This report highlights the unemployment rate, job sector growth, and Maryland rankings regionally and nationally.

State Rankings Report - A report highlighting unemployment and

employment data for all 51 states and districts as well as their rankings.

2017 Economic Analysis Report

A required submission to ETA, the Economic Analysis Report is a detailed

analysis of Maryland’s economy, market trends, challenges at the state and

county level. This report provides labor market information for economic

policy development, training program planning, and resource allocation for

Maryland stakeholders.

Monthly Labor Review

A monthly publication located on the DLLR and MWE websites. The

Monthly Labor Review (MLR) provides a detailed analysis of the state’s

employment situation for the current reporting month and historical labor

market data over the past year. The MLR includes statewide data and data

for its counties, select cities, and metropolitan statistical areas.

Occupational Outlook

A revamped biennial fact sheet covering occupations for Maryland’s local

workforce development areas (LWDAs). Find out which occupations are

estimated to be the fastest growing, have the greatest wage growth

potential, to have the most available jobs available by educational

attainment, and more.

Workforce Dashboard

An interactive dashboard that creates a graphical representation of

unemployment insurance, educational and training, job seeker, and job

openings data. Explore the data for Maryland, its counties, and local

workforce development areas.

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2017 WORKFORCE INFORMATION GRANT ANNUAL PERFORMANCE REPORT

Experimental Jobs Report Template - A template that outputs labor market data in a readable format.

Unemployment & Employment Snapshot - Using a cloud-based data storage and table creator, this report creates a series of employment and unemployment tables comparing Maryland to the other 49 states and the District of Columbia.

Secretary’s Chart—A document used by the LMI team with all the pertinent data used to create reports on statewide data publication days.

Secretary Chart Checker - An Excel document that verifies the accuracy of the data from the Secretary’s Chart.

Partnerships

The Labor Market Information (LMI) team strives to cultivate and maintain working

relationships with local partners, economic development authorities, workforce

development groups, legislative entities and others. Such partnerships are a result of the

LMI team’s expertise in research, reporting, and guidance.

Agencies

OWIP’s projections economist partners with DLLR’s performance management

program analyst to ensure Maryland’s Open Data Portal contains up-to-date labor

market data. Depending on the data product, new data uploads to the portal on a

monthly and quarterly basis.

Annually, OWIP collaborates with the comptroller of Maryland to prepare the Maryland

Comprehensive Annual Financial Report. This report utilizes labor market employment

and unemployment data as well as the major employer counts in Maryland.

Starting in program year 2017, OWIP partnered with Salisbury University to make

enhancements to the Workforce Dashboard. The Workforce Dashboard allows for a

more interactive exploration of labor market data.

The LMI team worked with The Hilltop Institute, a research organization at the

University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC). The LMI team assisted on a

healthcare research project by providing data, answering questions, and participating in

conference calls.

The LMI team collaborated with DLLR’s director of discretionary grants to provide LMI

analysis to support multiple grant proposals. The LMI team researched workplace

injuries in Maryland and which occupations were prone to musculoskeletal injuries. The

team also worked on a grant connecting opioid abuse in Maryland and its impact on the

state’s labor force.

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2017 WORKFORCE INFORMATION GRANT ANNUAL PERFORMANCE REPORT

Presentations and Trainings

OWIP partnered with Geographic Solution’s corporate trainer to present labor market

information at the Raising the Bar Conference in Ellicott City, Maryland. Workforce

development staff were shown where to find labor market information. There were

examples and methods of how to use this information to assist job seekers.

Data Sharing Agreements The following are agencies with which OWIP has data sharing agreements.

Customer Consultations

In program year 2017, OWIP consulted with and incorporated input from stakeholders

and end users.

OWIP has maintained multiple methods of collecting feedback from LMI users

regarding their use of and need for labor market products and services. Methods for

collecting data on customers’ use of labor market products and services include web

analytics, web surveys, and the recording of ad hoc labor market information requests.

The ad hoc statistics for labor market information customer and stakeholder requests

during 2017 are as follow:

Maryland’s Non-profit Consortium

Jacob France Institute at the University of

Baltimore

Center for Smart Growth at the University

of Maryland (Maryland Department of

Transportation)

Maryland National Capital Park and

Planning Commission

Frederick County Department of Finance

Maryland Department of Planning

Maryland Department of Commerce

Montgomery County Economic

Development Office

Montgomery County Parks and Planning

Office

Maryland National Capital Park and

Planning Commission – Prince George’s

County

Maryland National Capital Park and

Planning Commission

Period Number of Requests Percentage of Total Internal External

July-17 17 7% 8 9

August-17 28 12% 15 13

September-17 15 7% 10 5

October-17 24 10% 6 18

November-17 12 5% 4 8

December-17 15 7% 8 7

January-18 26 11% 11 15

February-18 22 10% 11 11

March-18 17 7% 6 11

April-18 20 9% 13 7

May-18 16 7% 12 4

June-18 18 8% 13 5

Total 230 100% 117 113

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2017 WORKFORCE INFORMATION GRANT ANNUAL PERFORMANCE REPORT

Customer Consultations

The top four months for requests in

program year 2017 were August 2017

(12%), January 2018 (11%) and

October 2017 and February 2018

(10%).

The average number of requests per

month was 19 in program year 2017.

Most data requests/questions (51%)

were internal (requests/questions

from divisions within the Maryland

Department of Labor, Licensing, and

Regulation).

Forty-nine percent of data requests

were external requests (from other

agencies, colleges, firms, job seekers,

etc.).

Customer Website Survey Results

Half respondents visited the website

monthly (50%), while an equal share

(25%) either visited the OWIP

website weekly or were first-time

users.

Fifty percent of respondents

reported being either extremely or

very satisfied with their most recent

experience on the website

Seventy-five percent of the website

respondents found the data product

they were looking for, while 25

percent did not.

All respondents found the content,

design, and ease of navigation on the

OWIP website at least met their

expectations.

Half of respondents found the

content exceptional (50%). Fifty

percent found the website design and

ease of navigation met their

expectations.

Every respondent would, “definitely”

use the OWIP website based on their

experience.

How Often Do Users Visit the Website?

Did You Find What You Were

Looking for on the Website?

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2017 WORKFORCE INFORMATION GRANT ANNUAL PERFORMANCE REPORT

Seventy-five percent of respondents

would “definitely” recommend the

OWIP website to a friend or

colleague, while 25 percent would

“probably” recommend the site.

The background of the respondents

includes economic developers,

human resource specialists,

researchers, and job seekers.

Customer Website Statistics

The method by which the Maryland DLLR captures website metrics changed in program year 2017. As a result, current web metrics are not comparable to previous program years.

In 2017, end users accessed the DLLR’s LMI landing page over 14,000 times.

Chart 1 – July 2017 had the largest share of page visitors at 10 percent. November had the smallest percentage (4%). Most months had a similar share of visitors. August and September of 2017, January, February, April, and May of 2018 all had a nine percent share of web page visitors.

Chart 2 – Of the five data products OWIP produces, the occupational employment statistics (OES) program page had the largest share of visits (32%). The OES program and the Quarterly Census of Employment & Wages (QCEW) program continue their popularity among all programs year after year. The current employment statistics (CES) program has the least web page visitors (7%).

Chart 3 – The Monthly Labor Review

garnered the largest share of visits to

publications pages with a 21 percent share.

The top four publications represented 65

percent of total visitors to publications. All

other publications accounted for 35 percent

of the total website traffic for the

publications.

Website Content

Website

Design

Website

Navigation

Exceptional Above Expectations Meets Expectations

Chart 1: OWIP data products web metrics

Chart 3: Publication web metrics

Chart 1: OWIP Web Page Metrics

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2017 WORKFORCE INFORMATION GRANT ANNUAL PERFORMANCE REPORT

New Tools and Resources

Maryland expended WIG funds for the enhancement of existing products and the

development of new products and tools.

In program year 2017, OWIP revamped the Occupational Outlook publication. The goal

was to make occupational information more accessible. The final product combined

OES data (employment and wages) with projections and educational attainment data.

Through the partnership with the Jacob France Institute (JFI) at the University of

Baltimore, the interactive Maryland County Fact Sheets introduced in PY 2015 are in the

planning stages for an overhaul. The plan is to create a new dashboard that leverages

performance data, which is not currently found on the OWIP website, from Maryland’s

American Job Centers.

Utilizing the business intelligence tool, Clicdata, the LMI team is in the final stages of

revamping how the team communicates newly released data to DLLR executive staff and

the governor’s office. The goal is to place all relevant data into a single dashboard. This

will replace multiple email attachments DLLR executive staff receive during statewide

jobs and unemployment publication days. The anticipated completion of the dashboard

is during program year 2018.

Activities to Leverage LMI-WI Funding

The Office of Workforce Information and Performance maintains compliance with

program year 2017’s funding by consistently populating and updating both the MWE

and DLLR websites. Activities under the LMI-WI funding were leveraged to support

various initiatives within OWIP and the broader agency.

WIG funding enabled automation of new data through dataZoa (data tables) and our

business intelligence tool, Clicdata. WIG funds allowed the publishing of Maryland short-

and long-term industry and occupational projections, the production of targeted labor

market analyses and reports, and collaborating with stakeholders on workforce-related

activities.

Funding through the WIG enabled the projections economist to travel for WIDb and

projections training to learn new techniques and network with LMI staff from other

states. Funding through the WIG also enabled OWIP staff to travel and attend the

Geographic Solutions Workforce Conference. This conference allows attendees to

network with LMI and workforce staff, view upcoming updates to the workforce

exchange websites, and ask in-person questions to Geographic Solutions’ staff.

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2017 WORKFORCE INFORMATION GRANT ANNUAL PERFORMANCE REPORT

Recommendations

The Office of Workforce Information and Performance focuses on the data products our

end users access the most. These stakeholders are requesting more from the

Occupational Employment Statistics program. Transforming the OES program data into

a time series could potentially to view “real-time” occupational demand with the annual

fluctuations of employment and wages.

With technological changes, new occupations and industries emerge. Currently, there

are no existing methodologies to track and record these emerging sectors. A significant

time lag exists between the initial stages of these developing sectors and reflecting their

outcomes in our industry and occupational data. A more timely release of preliminary

new sectors would help more consistently track these emerging trends.

Most of the labor market data OWIP uses does not include demographics (age, race, and

gender data). New methodologies to include demographic data in LAUS, QCEW, CES,

OES, and projections data would be beneficial to not only OWIP staff, but our end users

and stakeholders.

To initiate these changes in our methodologies mentioned above, OWIP recommends

that ETA maintain its commitment to provide and increase the WIGS to Maryland.

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2017 WORKFORCE INFORMATION GRANT ANNUAL PERFORMANCE REPORT

Grant Product Attribution and Intellectual Property Rights

This workforce product was funded by a grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Labor's

Employment and Training Administration. The product was created by the recipient and does

not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of Labor. The U.S.

Department of Labor makes no guarantees, warranties, or assurances of any kind, express or

implied, with respect to such information, including any information on linked sites and

including, but not limited to, accuracy of the information or its completeness, timeliness,

usefulness, adequacy, continued availability, or ownership. This product is copyrighted by the

institution that created it. Internal use by an organization and/or personal use by an

individual for non-commercial purposes is permissible. All other uses require the prior

authorization of the copyright owner."

The Federal Government reserves a paid-up, nonexclusive and irrevocable license to

reproduce, publish or otherwise use, and to authorize others to use for federal purposes: i) the

copyright in all products developed under the grant, including a subgrant or contract under

the grant or subgrant; and ii) any rights of copyright to which the recipient, subrecipient or a

contractor purchases ownership under an award (including but not limited to curricula,

training models, technical assistance products, and any related materials). Such uses include,

but are not limited to, the right to modify and distribute such products worldwide by any

means, electronically or otherwise. Federal funds may not be used to pay any royalty or

license fee for use of a copyrighted work, or the cost of acquiring by purchase a copyright in a

work, where the Department has a license or rights of free use in such work, although they

may be used to pay costs for obtaining a copy which is limited to the developer/seller costs of

copying and shipping. If revenues are generated through selling products developed with

grant funds, including intellectual property, these revenues are program income. Program

income must be used in accordance with the provisions of this grant award and 2 CFR

200.307.

For questions or assistance with Labor Market Data, you can reach us at one of the

following:

Email: dlwdallmi-dllr@maryland.gov

Phone: (410) 767-2250