In This Issue..

New county data available on Web site
Listing of fast growing jobs developed by region
Manufacturing training grant for Southeastern Indiana
Hill-Rom Workforce Literacy update
Hamilton County SNAP grant
Raising everyone up one level
Key Indiana economic indicators

About this Newsletter

Welcome to the latest issue of Workforce Developments, a monthly e-mail newsletter from the Indiana Department of Workforce Development.

This newsletter is designed to keep Indiana policy and opinion makers and other officials up to date on activities taking place in workforce development across the state. Please forward it to others you believe might find the content useful. If you prefer not to receive this newsletter, unsubscribe information is available at the bottom of this mailing.

New Indiana county data available

The state’s labor market information Web site, Hoosiers by the Numbers, now has new county information available.

The new County Highlights section of the Web site contains a wide variety of demographic and other information on each of Indiana’s 92 counties.

In addition to a general overview on each county, information includes population, education, commuting, labor force, industry, income, firm size trends and data.

The new information continues a series of upgrades of the content and usability of the labor market information data the department regularly compiles on Indiana’s workforce. The data on the Web site is used by economic development officials, researchers, policy-makers and other officials in a wide variety of economic development initiatives and community investment decisions.

To access the new service, go here.

Fast growing job lists available by region

The Department of Workforce Development has now published listings of the fastest growing jobs in each of the state's 11 economic growth regions. The listings can be accessed here.

The lists contain the jobs projected to be the most "in demand" for the state of Indiana between 2004 and 2014. By reviewing this list, Hoosiers can easily see growing occupations, average wages, education and basic skills needed for on the job success. Jobs that make the listing are based on growth factors in Indiana’s Occupational Projections 2004-2014 and wage information from the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) survey, both produced by Indiana’s Department of Workforce Development.

The state Hot Jobs data can be accessed here.

Manufacturing training grant for Southeast Indiana

The Indiana Department of Workforce Development last month awarded a grant to the Region 9 workforce board under the “Tomorrow’s Manufacturing Workforce” program. The program is designed to expand the state’s manufacturing workforce and increase the flow of high school and college graduates into manufacturing careers. Region 9 is located in Southeast Indiana and includes Columbus, Greensburg, Lawrenceburg and Madison.

The grant will be used primarily to boost the region’s training capacity for manufacturing jobs by about 25 percent. Additionally, funds will be used to launch a career advancement account program for 100 dislocated workers, who will each receive $1500 for educational and training expenses. Manufacturing programs in both secondary and post-secondary levels at the Columbus Area Career Connection, Southeast Career Center, Ivy Tech campuses in Columbus, Lawrenceburg, Batesville and Madison, and the Purdue College of Technology will be expanded. Enrollment in these programs in March 2007 was approximately 1400, which officials hope to increase to more than 1750 by the 2009-2010 school year.

Manufacturing accounts for 28 percent of the jobs in the region, distributed at approximately 550 manufacturing companies within the ten-county region. Officials report a need for additional engineers, technicians, machinists and general production workers.

In addition to an expansion of enrollments and course offerings, the region is also seeking to increase the number of workers attaining the Manufacturing Skills Standard Council (MSSC) certification each year. The MSSC is a national organization that focuses on the core knowledge and skills needed by production workers in the nation's advanced manufacturing sector, and attainment of the industry credential demonstrates that workers have mastered the skills needed in the high-growth, technical jobs of the 21st century.

Hill-Rom workers complete workforce literacy program

Sixty-seven workers at Batesville’s Hill-Rom recently received certificates for completing a training program under a state pilot effort aimed at improving the workforce literacy of Indiana workers.

Under the state’s workforce literacy program, announced last spring, more than 2,500 workers received training in an effort to raise the basic skill levels of Indiana workers while exploring the viability and effectiveness of different models of workplace basic literacy education.

Department of Workforce Development Commissioner Andrew Penca joined Hill-Rom officials at a ceremony marking the completion of the training effort. “Our ultimate goal with these grants it to raise everyone up one level,” Penca said. “We need to become more efficient and effective in how we train and retrain our adult workers in Indiana if we are to compete successfully in the 21st century.”

The workers were trained under a grant awarded last year to the Indiana Health Industry Forum on behalf of Hill-Rom and two other Indiana companies to raise the basic level of the employees’ workplace literacy skills. All told, ten companies or consortia received $1.2 million from the state under the workforce literacy initiative.

Hamilton County SNAPS up federal grant

In April, this newsletter profiled a new online initiative designed to help Hoosiers find a job, keep a job, or obtain a better job. The new SHARE Network is an online database of resources available to the public that can be used to help meet employment goals. Resource searches are based upon the service, its location/county, or provider name. SHARE is an acronym for Showing How Access to Resources Empowers. The Indiana site can be accessed here.

While this effort is statewide, a new effort taking place in Hamilton County illustrates the potential application and collaboration opportunities of the SHARE network as well as its utility toward specific target populations in need of services.

The Hamilton County effort grew out of collaborations by the Region 5 Workforce Board, Regional Operator, Service Provider and Inspirations of Hamilton County, Inc. a faith-based 501(c)(3) to develop a Share Network Access Point (SNAP) for Hamilton County.

The collaboration has resulted in a $60,000 U.S. Dept. of Labor grant to build on the local SHARE Network Access Point. Services under the grant, which began last month, will be provided to men and women over the age of 15 who have, at some point in their lives, experienced domestic violence or sexual abuse which has affected their ability to locate and retain employment. Efforts will go beyond a traditional employment search, and will include one on one employment counseling, pre- and post-job placement monitoring, training in job search methods, resume writing and interviewing skills, job retention support, and customized employability skills training to encourage clients to pursue high demand occupations.

Raising Everyone Up One Level

The Department of Workforce Development’s mission is to raise everyone up one level, to help Indiana achieve its vision to become a global leader in the development and growth of a highly skilled workforce.

A review of two key training programs indicates how the Department is achieving these mission and vision statements.

Under the state’s Training Acceleration Grant Program (TAG) and federal Workforce Investment Act (WIA) 5638 individuals earned either a General Education Diplomas (GED), professional certification or a two- or four-year degree during the state fiscal year ending June 30 2007. This represents an increase of 523 from the previous year. The number of GED’s increased from 554 to 619, professional certifications decreased slightly from 4184 to 4137, while two-year degrees jumped from 305 to 812. The number of four-year degrees decreased slightly from 72 to 70.

The TAG program is Indiana’s primary training program for incumbent workers, while the federal WIA program offers a comprehensive range of workforce development activities to benefit job seekers, laid off workers, youth, incumbent workers, new entrants to the workforce, veterans, persons with disabilities, and employers.

Monthly Metrics: Indiana’s Economic Dashboard

For the latest in key Indiana economic indicators, the monthly issue of InContext, a joint publication of the Kelly School of Business at Indiana University and Indiana Department of Workforce Development, go here.

The monthly feature provides a variety of labor and employment statistics and trends from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and other sources in a graphical format.