Summary

The Connecticut Department of Labor (CTDOL) used O*NET to respond to the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) requirement that States assess:

• current and future job opportunities in the state
• the skills necessary to obtain those jobs
• the skills necessary to meet the economic development needs of the state.

Occupational skills information featured in the report was extracted from O*NET.

Choices Today provides labor market information including:

• economic and workforce trends
• growing industries in Connecticut
• occupations with the greatest demand
• skills needed for these high demand jobs
• Six Industry Clusters, cluster occupations, and needed skills
• occupational supply and demand
• current workforce investment activities.

 

O*NET was essential to the Choices Today report.

Section Four of the report, which describes skills necessary for Connecticut's high demand occupations, depended on O*NET data and Content Model information, especially Skills and Skill Descriptions.

Section Five of the report presents O*NET skills needed by clusters of industries that are a focus of economic development in the State.
 

Who is your target population?

Choices Today was specifically designed for those involved in Connecticut's One-Stop employment and training system.

Stakeholders in this system include:

• Community leaders
• Policy-makers
• Planners
• Educators
• Counselors
• Service providers
• Program operators at State and local levels.

 

By using O*NET, CTDOL was able to save time and meet the planning needs of the State workforce development system.

Identifying skills requirements was a major part of the Choices Today report. Having skills information available through O*NET in a simple, easy-to-access format allowed CTDOL staff to focus on collecting other data elements required by WIA.

An expected impact of the Choices Today report is that those in Connecticut's employment and training community will be better able to evaluate labor market supply and demand and better target resources to address gaps.
 

What are the related program initiatives?

Program initiatives that can make use of this information include:

• One-stop employment and training system
• WIA
• Economic development
• School-to-Work
• Welfare-to-Work.

Is your product, program or service available for others to use?

Choices Today is available through the Connecticut Department of Labor, Office of Research, 200 Folly Brook Blvd., Wethersfield, CT 06109.  Tele: 860/263-6275. Web Site at: www.ctdol.state.ct.us/lmi
 

What other strategies make your product, program or service successful?

Good labor market information is essential to informed workforce investment decisions.

Choices Today states, "As we strive to meet the challenges of a changing workplace educators, counselors, planners, and training program operators must gather the information that will make them aware of the types of jobs in demand and the level of training required for those jobs. Labor Market Information can aid in this process."

Strategy: combine/expand LMI with occupational information (O*NET).
 

Do you have other pertinent information?

"The Summary of Skills Needed by Connecticut's Growing Occupations demonstrates a variety of ways in which the data can be presented:

• The 12 highest ranking skills (as identified using O*NET) needed for Connecticut's top 25 jobs
• Additional universal skills, i.e., skill required by most occupations
• Qualities and character traits essential for success on the job"

Contact information.

Adele DeFrancesco
Office of Research
Connecticut Department of Labor
200 Folly Brook Blvd.
Wethersfield, CT 06109
tele: 860/263-6275
http://www.ctdol.state.ct.us