Blogs

Date: January 24th, 2024

Location: Virtual

Wednesday, January 24th 

Welcome & Introductions  

Ellen Samoriski, NLx Program Assistant (NASWA) and Shannon Offord, VP Strategic Partnerships (DirectEmployers) welcomed the committee members and guests to the gathering and invited the group to a round of introductions. Shannon reminded the group of the meeting cadence (2 virtual, 2 in-person annually, ad-hoc as needed). 

LinkedIn Presentation 

To start the presentation, Efrem Bycer provided an overview of the LinkedIn and NASWA relationship, emphasizing LinkedIn's goal of promoting economic opportunity. He discussed LinkedIn’s Economic Graph, a digital representation of the economy based on LinkedIn insights. The data includes information on companies, job seekers, skills, and schools.

Mr. Bycer shared LinkedIn’s focus on AI insights, exploring opportunities associated with green skills, and studying how skills overlap across occupations. Data for their work comes from LinkedIn profiles, with NLx being one of the partners providing job postings. The NLx shares job files to LinkedIn every day, linking to state labor exchange systems, and connecting job seekers back to the job postings point of origin.Efrem highlighted LinkedIn and LinkedIn Learning's support for veterans and refugees, with resources for hiring managers targeting these groups. There are also resources for youth and career starters. My Bycer also shared that Linkedin’s Global Skills Initiative offers free courses for skills development.

Jake Hirsch-Allen discussed the LinkedIn partnership with NASWA, aiming to scale Labor Market Information (LMI), online learning, and job matching tools and making them accessible to states. 

NLx Update – RH 

In his presentation, Paul Daniels, NLx Research Hub Manager, delved into the key aspects of the Hub’s 2023 Annual Review, shedding light on advancements in both technical and operational realms. He shifted the focus to active users’ project highlights including an ongoing Data Quality Assessment, a collaborative effort by GWIPP and CREC, aimed at supporting the NSF's National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics. The primary objective of the assessment is to pinpoint publicly available administrative data sets pertinent to the skilled technical workforce. The assigned tasks encompass source identification, executing a comprehensive Data Quality Assessment utilizing the NLx data set. The presentation identified areas for improvement and proposed metrics, outlining use cases such as non-degree credential prevalence, associations with higher earnings, and patterns of inequality. 

Mr. Daniels also shared Minnesota DEED will continue to explore job history tables and correlation studies with JOLTS data to find more information on various aspects such as data stability, processing time, staffing considerations, and extensive research into hiring practices, staffing agencies, and regional nuances. This multifaceted approach underscores the comprehensive nature of the initiative and its dedication to enhancing our understanding of the skilled technical workforce landscape.

NLx Update – Partnerships

Shannon Offord provided updates on partnerships with various organizations, showcasing ongoing efforts to support veterans and military spouses. These partnerships include a collaboration with the Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) involving the creation of a dedicated microsite for participants in the WWP employment program, with more details expected as the microsite launch approaches. Similarly, a partnership agreement with Iowa’s Jobs for America’s Graduates (iJAG) includes the development of a microsite, aiming to extend the project's reach from Iowa to the national JAG level.

An update on the Hilton Honors (HH) program reveals its renewal through 2024, with current participation from 33 states and recent additions like Tennessee and Alabama. Over 10,000 veterans and 1,200 military spouses have benefited from the program. During the discussion, Luz Cuevas-Santos asked for additional details about the HH program, and Mr. Offord explained that it centers around veterans and military spouses receiving points for free stays in Hilton hotels when traveling for job search related activities. Kimberlee Myer added that the program provides a flat number of points and is managed individually by each state. These partnerships underscore the NLx commitment to providing valuable employment and training related resources and opportunities for veterans and military spouses.

Upcoming Events

The next in-person NLx STCO meeting will take place April 1st 2:00-5:00 PM and April 2nd 8:00 AM – 12:00 PM at the Intercontinental Hotel New Orleans in New Orleans, Louisiana. We will host a dinner Monday night and breakfast and lunch will be provided Tuesday. Additional information will be provided to STCO members.

Meeting Participants