Market Driven Business Services 
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The marketplace is the starting point to define the workplace needs of employers and the escalating skill requirements for workers. To be effective and of value to the business community, the Northwest WorkSource system is aligning services and training to the skills required in the local economy. Some effective strategies employed locally:

Industry Specific Sector Initiatives
With the success of the Northwest Alliance for Health Care Skills, a model Alliance of key industry leaders noted throughout the state both for its design and its accomplishments, the Council continues its efforts to align training and service delivery with high demand occupations and skill clusters. Research to examine three additional industries (manufacturing, construction, & information technology) has begun.  
health

Nursing Assistants	Radiologic Technologists
Medical Assistants	Specialty Registered Nurses
Registered Nurses	Licensed Practical Nurses

Closing the Skills Gap in Health Care  Fact Sheet in PDF
Statewide, Workforce Development Councils have invested over $3 million dollars to address this issue.  In addition, $3 million has been awarded as a Department of Labor (DOL) H1B Technical Skills Training grant to four WDCs: Pierce-Tacoma, Seattle-King, Snohomish and Northwest. These efforts are driven by local industry partners, such as Providence Health Care and the Northwest Alliance for Health Care Skills. Programs focus on developing long-term plans, while simultaneously taking immediate action, such as moving entry-level health care workers into RN, Diagnostic Imaging Technician, and Radiologist positions.

WDCs in North Central Washington and in Pierce County are training TANF recipients for jobs as LPNs and other health care professions. At the Tri-County WDC, a partnership with the Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic moves disadvantaged high school students into training programs for health care careers, thereby increasing both the skill levels and diversity in the applicant pool for local employers.

Closing the Skills Gap in Health Care  Fact Sheet in PDF
construction

Construction and Manufacturing Skills Gap Project Update

(Information Technology is still pending)

The Labor Market Analysis and Skills Gap project for Construction and Manufacturing sectors in the Northwest Workforce Development Council region is progressing toward the employer interview phase.

The Project Manager, Nancy Maxwell, has completed numerous industry leader, economic development staff and regional labor and association opinion leader interviews while developing the employer/key informant interview guidelines and data gathering forms. All have been enthusiastic supporters of the project. They have been patient teachers for designing the questions, formats and data categories in ways that meaningfully reflect the industry terminology and workplace. They have also identified industry leaders to be included in the interview phase of the project. The working guidelines and documents are ready for use.

The elusive employer data base for the 4 county region has arrived …Thanks to Tammy O’Neal in ES. Nancy is compiling the employer and industry data for the selection of the sample for research. America’s Labor Market Information System (ALMIS) allows the researcher to search by type of business (SIC), size of business, geographic location and company name. We have analyzed the NWDC by region and by each individual county for the construction and manufacturing sectors.

Just some highlights of the results thus far.

The NWDC region has 2069 construction related firms and 919 manufacturing firms according to the 2003 1st edition of ALMIS

We are an economy of very small businesses. Over 80% of businesses in all categories employ between 1 and 19 employees. This is especially visible in the construction – special trade contractor SIC cluster.

In most industry groups, the majority of the firms with 1-4 employees have an annual sales volume of less than $500,000. It will be helpful to identify what factors allow a company to increase their workforce and annual sales above the $500,000 threshold. This may give us insight into the business climate issues that support economic well-being and growth.

The statistical data for the individual counties does not vary greatly from the regional characteristics. In some areas, Skagit and Whatcom counties are quite similar. San Juan and Island differ from Skagit and Whatcom but are more similar with each other in the employer data.

As we select the sample for interviews, we will be conscious of representing the diversity in size, product and geography of the region. However, we will also select companies for interview that offer the breadth of labor force and capital resources needed for expansion of the business and workforce, identification of skill sets needed for current and new employees, career ladders that lead to wage progression and economic development in the Northwest Washington. We will look for skill set similarities between the various manufacturing and construction sub-groups as well as industry specific skills required.

Thanks to all who have contributed to this ongoing work. We have been approved for an extension for the grant funds until September 2003 so the work will be completed in the summer.