Disseminating Labor Market Information: Insights from the State LMI Improvement Grants

"[Labor Market Information] (LMI) has the potential to impact a large number of stakeholders and key decisions, but the information will not have any impact unless it reaches its intended audience. The specific audience for LMI depends, in part, on the information collected. State workforce agencies used the LMI grants to create research products and career tools targeted at policy- makers, educational institutions, job seekers, and other stake­ holders. Grant products included occupational profiles, skills transferability tools, and enhanced labor exchanges. LMI grantees faced significant challenges in their attempts to disseminate LMI during the short 18-month grant period. This brief uses the experiences of the LMI grantees to offer some strategies to consider when planning future LMI dissemination efforts. While the LMI grantees were particularly focused on disseminating information on green jobs, the lessons from these dissemination efforts are more broadly applicable" (p.1). (Abstractor: Author)

"Identify the appropriate audience for each product. The federal guidance for the LMI grant recognized the potential for numerous “end users,” including job seekers; educational institutions; community-based organizations that offer training and support services; and labor, economic development, and industry organizations. “Consider the accessibility of the product. LMI staff should consider the appropriateness for the targeted audience of both the level of detail and the relevance of the findings. • “Identify methods to reach targeted audiences. Just as the type of product might differ depending on the targeted audience, so might the method for getting the product or information out. • “Consider the timing of dissemination efforts. The dissemination plan should consider any key decisions to be made in the state/region. • “Develop a realistic timeline. Planning for successful dissemination takes time. • “Include production and dissemination efforts in the budget. While grant budgets often consider the many phases of data collection and analysis, production and dissemination efforts sometimes are overlooked. • “Plan for efforts and costs associated with ongoing dissemination. Whereas some LMI is static in that a report is published and produced, other LMI needs to be continually accessible to users. LMI staff needs to plan for the costs of these ongoing efforts. • “Seek partner perspective on products. Partners may bring an important perspective on the accessibility of the LMI products and the planned dissemination strategies. • “Use partners to access stakeholders. Partners often have access to different stakeholders. • “Take advantage of partnership flexibility. As the LMI grantees learned, partners outside of state government may have additional flexibility that facilitates quick dissemination. • “Monitor distribution of products. For printed LMI products including brochures and reports, tracking the number of products distributed and the location of distribution provides a basic understanding of the reach of the dissemination efforts. • “Track website traffic. Tools such as Google Analytics or other tracking software can determine how many times a website was visited, for how long pages were viewed, and the number of times a document was downloaded. • “Use customer surveys. LMI shops are already required to assess customer satisfaction. A survey of job seekers or American Job Center customers may indicate job seekers’ utilization or familiarity with particular LMI tools or products" (p.2-5). (Abstractor: Author)

• Last Updated:
• Created:
• Resource Publication Date: 2012
• Author(s): Angus, Megan; Berk, Jillian
• Organizational Author(s): Mathematica Policy Research
• Funding Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration
• Resource Availability: Publicly available
• Posted by: Justin Venneri
• Posted in: Workforce System Strategies