How to Find New Programs with High Workforce Demand

This tutorial addresses how to find in-demand programs that colleges or universities should consider offering. By first finding good jobs in your region based on growth and wages, we can then look for training opportunities for those jobs that aren’t being provided. In this example we’ll focus on training opportunities that a typical community college could provide.

Workflow:

1. Click Occupations
2. Click Occupation Table
3. Under “Select Occupations”, choose All Available
4. Under “Select a Region”, enter your CSD, CMA, or other region
5. Click Custom Data Selection and select the following:
   1. Under “Jobs”, Start Year, End Year
   2. Under “Change” Jobs Change, % Jobs Change
   3. Under “Earnings”, Avg. Hourly Wages
   4. Under “Education”, Regional Completions
6. Click Select
7. Click Run
8. In the options bar on the left-hand side of the screen, under ‘Timeframe’, select the past 4-5 years. In this case we’ll do 2016-2020. Why aren’t you using projections here?[1]
9. Under ‘Class of Worker’, select Employees
10. At the top of the table, click Filter
11. Select 2016-2020% Change from the first menu
12. Select greater than or equal to from the second
13. Enter the growth % you’d like to filter for. We’ll do 12% here.
14. Click +Add Filter
    • 2016 Avg Hourly Earnings >> greater than or equal to >> [a good wage for your region]
15. Click Apply

Your list should be manageable at this point. Scan the list for occupations with more Growth than Regional Completions. You’ve identified growing, high paying jobs in your region where the demand is surpassing the supply of trained workers from colleges. These represent areas of possible opportunity for more training options in the region. Now we’ll look at the programs that typically train for these jobs.

1. From the Occupation Table, select an occupation with higher growth than completions.
2. In the menu above the table, click Jump To > Occupational Programs

The Occupational Programs report shows you how many different programs are in your region that train for this occupation, as well as which institution currently offers which program. Under “Programs by Institution”, check the award level being offered at each school. It may be the case that a program is offered at the associate’s level at a neighboring university, but your college is considering offering a quicker certificate program.

[1] Projections are based on historic trends carried forward. It’s perfectly acceptable to use projections in this scenario to look at the next 5-10 years, but the historic context is key to understanding why projections are up or down for a given occupation.