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Industry Workforce Studies
Many of my clients (especially workforce development boards) are interested in doing
Industry Workforce Studies to learn more about the workforce
needs and characteristics of local employers in targeted industries.
Study results are of particular interest to policy makers, program
operators, and other employment and workforce professionals.
An industry study addresses such issues as:
- Number of employers
- Number of jobs/workers
- Types of jobs (FT, PT, on-call, temp)
- Hours typically worked
- Change in employment level for recent period, including job
growth rate
- Expected change in employment level for outlook period,
including new job projections
- What jobs make up most of the new positions?
- Planned reductions in workforce, including reasons and what
occupational areas
- Recruitment practices
- Degree of difficulty in finding qualified job candidates
- What occupational areas are consistently difficult to fill?
- Key skills and abilities needed for most entry level positions
- Require pre-employment drug testing?
In addition, selected data from the industry study can be
combined with already-existing employment statistics to conduct a
Workforce Gap Analysis in which occupations are evaluated with
regard to occupational demand and projected workforce gaps.
Our preferred methodology for
industry studies is to utilize a census-type approach:
- Begin by defining the industry (or industries) and the
geographical area
- Design a survey sample based on either a census or
representative approach (representative = stratified by employer
type and size)
- Design and test the industry survey questionnaire
- Conduct surveys with targeted employers (usually with the person
who does the hiring)
- Utilize all possible survey response formats in order to achieve
the highest possible response rates
- Analyze the data without bias, utilizing existing industry data
(if available)
- Protect the confidentiality of survey participants by only
publishing information at a summary level
Key options in our research methodology include
utilizing focus group discussions to help generate supplementary data,
to help validate the survey data, or to help interpret the survey
data. The
industry study report can also include occupational information based
either on additional survey work with employers, or by utilizing
existing data
sources.
 See sample report in pdf format:
Manufacturing Matters (1.7
MB)
See sample report in pdf format:
Hospitality & Tourism (1.1
MB)
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