Archived News (2005)
June 15, 2005
WA President Jane Lommel Addresses International Council of Small Business Conference
Workforce Associates, Inc. President Jane M. Lommel spoke at the 50th annual International Council of Small Business (ICSB) conference in Washington, D.C. Her presentation, “Policy Implications of the Aging Workforce in Developed Countries” demonstrated surprising statistics on the rapid aging of First World nations, backed up by some shocking charts of the “Population Pyramid” for several countries in North America, Europe, and Asia.
Denny Dennis, Senior Research Fellow of the NFIB Research Foundation and one of the conference’s organizers, said that Dr. Lommel’s presentation “let the panel raise demographic questions that this group of academics rarely thinks about -- kind of in the backs of their minds, but never truly front and center.”
You can view the PowerPoint slides from the ICSB conference here on our Resource page.
June 6, 2005
Indiana Workforce Development and Workforce Associates, Inc. Launch Strategic Skills Initiative
Workforce Associates, Inc. has partnered with the new Indiana Department of Workforce Development to create a Strategic Skills Initiative for the state of Indiana. The SSI is the most ambitious and most fiscally well-endowed project of its kind yet undertaken by any state in the US. The project, a skills gap analysis focused on creating an active, demand-driven workforce system, is backed up with $23 million in state funds, to pay for research efforts and eventually to implement solutions. You can read coverage of Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels’ announcement of the project here.
Using the experience gained from involvement with Illinois’ Critical Skills Shortage initiative in 2004, Workforce Associates, Inc. served IDWD as the primary consultant for the development of this project. The scope of this initiative includes a bold reimagining of the structure of the Indiana workforce system and redefined workforce service areas, keyed closely to such crucial factors as commute patterns, economic driver industries, and education resources.
The continued involvement of Workforce Associates, Inc. in the Strategic Skills Initiative will involve the creation of a “how-to” manual and a thorough data packet of useful labor market information for the use of the regional consortia formed to drive the Initiative. WFA will also develop and implement online courses to train regional staff in the research methods that will produce the best analysis, help regions reap the maximum benefits from the monies offered by the state, and build staff capacity to conduct further research in the future, such as State of the Workforce Reports and Community Audits.