Targeting job opportunities: Developing measures of local employment

Community organizations involved in job training and placement activities have relied on highly aggregated labor-market information to guide programmatic direction. Although such information can serve as a starting point for evaluating employment opportunities, it has not been useful to organizations seeking to target opportunities in particular locations, industries, and occupations. Frustration over the ineffectiveness of these tools has led organizations to use new techniques for identifying employment opportunities. This article reports on ongoing efforts to use economic development techniques to assist jab training and placement providers in better understanding local labor-market conditions. Techniques for conducting labor-market analysis for small areas using occupation-and industry-specific information from readily available sources are presented and evaluated. Three case studies provide examples using the techniques described.