The noble calling of economic development work extends beyond the mere dollars and cents of business recruitment and expansion. It’s about prospering communities and creating opportunities for the people of Southwest Missouri and the greater Four-States.
The WIB upgraded its capacity with a new suite of tools through its partnership with Economic Modeling Specialists, Inc. (EMSI). Together with the WIB, EMSI shares the passion for prospering communities by turning labor market data into useful information that helps organizations understand the connection between economies, people, and work.
The WIB began using EMSI tools early in the process of the Regional Innovation Grant and the WIRED framework from the U.S. Department of Labor starting in 2007. Since that time, the WIB garnered national attention through case studies by DOL/O*NET and EMSI. Together with expert staffing, the WIB is now the region’s preferred source for trends and analysis for local decision-makers and the news media.
The new Developer suite from EMSI pulls together labor market data from more than 90 sources for more ease of access with extensive data on the region’s workforce and economy. The upgrade is especially timely for the WIB with the SectorReady™ initiative and the implementation of new resources through the Workforce Innovation Opportunity Act (WIOA).
Strategic Planning
What are the region’s best opportunities for growth? Which industries are emerging or at risk? What impact would a new business have on the community? These are just a few of the questions answered in a matter of seconds with Developer. Identify and rank industry clusters. Quantify retail opportunities based on the money residents spend on a particular industry and how much of this is leaking out of the region. Research, compare, and visualize the regional industries, including the key occupations employed by each. Understand regional industry demand and an industry’s purchases from other industries. Quantify the impact of a business arrival or closure.
Workforce Analytics
The availability of skilled labor is the number one factor in site selection decisions. This makes detailed workforce data a must. With EMSI’s comprehensive county and zip-code data, the WIB is well equipped to demonstrate the workforce strengths of the region — or custom regions around a proposed location — to site selectors. Research any occupation and visualize its size, growth, earnings, concentration, and more on a map. Measure unemployment by occupation or industry sector. Give companies a fuller sense of their potential candidate pool with EMSI’s skills transferability report. Count local graduates related to an occupation by education provider and award level. Analyze job posting, hiring trends, and in-demand skills for any field.
Tools for Attraction
Instead of scattershot approaches to business recruitment, EMSI can help refine regional strategy, generate quality leads, and make a compelling business case by demonstrating workforce availability and local industry success. Find businesses to attract and regions to target based on cost of labor and other data-driven metrics. Compare the performance of an industry in the region to peer regions, to the state, or the nation. For any occupation, showcase the number of current and projected jobs, concentration, earnings, workforce demographics, and program completions. List all regional businesses by industry sector and visualize business listings on a map.
Regional Dashboard
Whether the WIB is helping communities respond to site selectors, preparing for a presentation to stakeholders, or scoping out competitors, the WIB’s customers need access to quick regional facts. EMSI Developer gives the WIB vital information to quickly assist stakeholders. Understand the demographic and economic profile of the region and regions in competition. Access a population snapshot report or research detailed demographics tables. Quantify GRP (gross regional product) as well as regional sales and exports for any industry in the region. For more info or assistance, contact Frank Neely at the WIB by email or by phone at 417-206-1717, Extension 108. The WIB appreciates the support of Empire District Electric Company to help underwrite research services for the region.
Additional Capabilities
GIS Mapping: Visual mapping of demographics, jobs by industry/occupation, educational completions/attainment, business counts, and economic indicators such as in/out migration, local area personal income, earnings per worker, unemployment, and workforce demographics
WorkKeys® Job Profiles: Unlock the brain power of top performers to nail down the tasks and specific skill levels needed to take your firm to the next level with a WorkKeys® Job Profile. The focus group of your subject-matter experts, teamed up with an ACT-authorized job profiler, creates an initial task list, sharpens the list for critical performance, then analyzes the tasks for specific WorkKeys® skills and levels.
Specialized/Customized: Commute and labor shed reports with detailed analyses demonstrating where workers are employed who live in a specific area or where workers live who work in a specific area; data utilization for determining if communities have a need for subject specific housing.
