Located in:
- II. Strategic Elements
The Unified or Combined State Plan must include a Strategic Planning Elements section that analyzes the State’s current economic environment and identifies the State’s overall vision for its workforce development system. The required elements in this section allow the State to develop data-driven goals for preparing an educated and skilled workforce and to identify successful strategies for aligning workforce development programs. Unless otherwise noted, all Strategic Planning Elements apply to Combined State Plan partner programs included in the plan as well as to core programs.
- a. Economic, Workforce, and Workforce Development Activities Analysis
The Unified or Combined State Plan must include an analysis of the economic conditions, economic development strategies, and labor market in which the State’s workforce system and programs will operate.
- a. Economic, Workforce, and Workforce Development Activities Analysis
II. a. 1. A. Economic Analysis (A.I -A.III)
The Unified or Combined State Plan must include an analysis of the economic conditions and trends in the State, including sub-State regions and any specific economic areas identified by the State. This must include-
i. Existing Demand Industry Sectors and Occupations
Provide an analysis of the industries and occupations for which there is existing demand.
ii. Emerging Industry Sectors and Occupation
Provide an analysis of the industries and occupations for which demand is emerging.
iii. Employers’ Employment Needs
With regard to the industry sectors and occupations identified in 1 and 2 above, provide an assessment of the employment needs of employers, including a description of the knowledge, skills, and abilities required, including credentials and licenses.
Current Narrative:
Eighty-eight percent of the job openings in this list are for occupations that typically require some level of formal postsecondary education or training for entry, whether it is an employer-sponsored formal training program, apprenticeship, certificate or degree. Occupations on this list that require less than a bachelor’s degree are primarily concentrated in the skilled trades and healthcare. Interestingly, when we do not filter for a minimum wage and focus on jobs that are simply projected to have above average growth rates, jobs in the trades and healthcare support increase dramatically, indicating that there are a number of high demand yet lower paying jobs in these fields many of which can serve as stepping stones to higher compensation. However, there are a large number of high demand jobs that don’t meet the living wage target - such as administrative/office support, personal care services, or food preparation/serving. These occupations may not typically have clear pathways for earnings advancement, yet can still provide exposure to critical skills and industries.[1]
Employers’ Employment Needs
For the occupations identified in Colorado’s “Top Jobs” list, a majority require high levels of one or more STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) fields. In fact, when using Brookings Institution’s definition of STEM occupations, the Colorado Talent Pipeline Report found that of the total estimated employment for all Standard Occupation Codes on the “Top Jobs” list, 62 percent are in STEM Standard Occupation Codes per the Brookings STEM definition. Compared to the share of STEM employment across the state’s overall workforce - which is approximately 20 percent - this suggests that a number of STEM competencies are highly valuable, as this list highlights jobs with above average growth rates and typically pay a living wage.
In addition to STEM skills, the Colorado Talent Pipeline Report also identified certain skills that make employers more likely to promote individuals within their organizations. By reviewing data available from LinkedIn that is listed below, the skills of Coloradans who were promoted from entry-level to a more senior level position were identified. The top fifteen skill clusters include for these promoted workers include:
- Economics
- Social Media Marketing
- People Skills
- Statistical Analysis and Data Mining
- Software Revision Control System
- Software Applications
- Multilingual
- Politics
- User Interface
- HR Recruiting
- Analytical and Problem Solving
- Software Development Skills (Other)
- Mobile Development
- Legal Skills (Other)
- History, Archaeology, and Anthropology[2]
In summarizing the analysis of these skill clusters, the Colorado Talent Pipeline Report noted:
Many of these skills are related to skills expected of high demand fields in the state (such as IT); this is exemplified by the vast number of technology-related skill clusters, such as software revision control system (e.g. competency using tools like Git or Subversion), software applications (e.g. expertise in Primavera or SharePoint), and user interface (e.g. expertise in WordPress or user experience design).
Yet, what is also interesting about this list is that it is not limited to technical skills - interpersonal skills, language skills and problem solving can also play a role in progressing one’s careers.[3]
O*NET Skills Scores by Key Industry Network
Our O*NET skill scores are based on the staffing pattern for each Key Industry Network (KIN). By KIN, we then isolated the skilled occupations that had the highest concentration of workers, a total number that comprised at least half of the workers in the KIN. Based on the skills scores for these select occupations, we then established one score for each skill in each KIN. Below are the top ten ranked scores for each key industry; scores that exceed the average score for all occupations is denoted with an asterisk.
Advanced Manufacturing
1. Critical thinking 61.3
2. Reading comprehension 60.3
3. Active listening 59.9
4. Speaking 58.0
5. Monitoring* 57.8
6. Complex problem solving* 55.3
7. Judgment and decision making 54.9
8. Time management 52.3
9. Coordination 52.1
10. Writing 50.0
Aerospace
1. Critical thinking* 68.3
2. Reading comprehension* 67.3
3. Active listening* 65.6
4. Speaking 63.0
5. Complex problem solving* 62.7
6. Judgment and decision making* 60.7
7. Monitoring* 58.3
8. Writing* 57.9
9. Active learning* 54.9
10. Coordination* 54.9
Bioscience
1. Reading comprehension* 65.8
2. Critical thinking* 65.3
3. Active listening 65.1
4. Speaking 62.0
5. Complex problem solving* 59.1
6. Judgment and decision making* 58.5
7. Monitoring 57.6
8. Writing* 57.3
9. Active learning* 54.1
10. Time management* 53.5
Creative Industries
1. Active listening* 67.5
2. Reading comprehension* 65.5
3. Speaking* 64.4
4. Critical thinking* 64.0
5. Judgment and decision making* 58.2
6. Writing* 57.9
7. Complex problem solving* 57.8
8. Monitoring 56.6
9. Time management* 54.9
10. Coordination* 54.9
Defense & Homeland Security
No available data
Electronics
1. Reading comprehension* 68.4
2. Critical thinking* 66.5
3. Active listening* 66.1
4. Speaking* 63.8
5. Complex problem solving* 61.3
6. Judgment and decision making* 60.1
7. Writing* 58.8
8. Monitoring 57.0
9. Time management* 54.7
10. Coordination* 54.6
Energy & Natural Resources
1. Critical thinking 61.2
2. Active listening 59.3
3. Monitoring 57.6
4. Speaking 57.5
5. Reading comprehension 56.2
6. Judgment and decision making 55.7
7. Operation monitoring* 54.9
8. Complex problem solving 54.2
9. Coordination 53.3
10. Time management 53.0
Financial Services
1. Active listening* 72.6
2. Speaking* 71.3
3. Reading comprehension* 68.6
4. Critical thinking* 67.6
5. Writing* 63.6
6. Judgment and decision making* 62.6
7. Complex problem solving* 59.2
8. Social perceptiveness* 59.0
9. Time management* 56.9
10. Active learning* 55.4
Food & Agriculture
1. Active listening 55.8
2. Critical thinking 55.6
3. Speaking 54.8
4. Operation monitoring* 53.9
5. Monitoring 53.6
6. Coordination 52.9
7. Operation and control* 51.4
8. Time management 50.1
9. Judgment and decision making 50.0
Health & Wellness
1. Active listening* 74.0
2. Speaking* 72.1
3. Critical thinking* 68.3
4. Reading comprehension* 68.2
5. Social perceptiveness* 68.0
6. Service orientation* 65.6
7. Monitoring* 64.0
8. Judgment and decision making* 61.6
9. Writing* 61.4
10. Active learning* 59.1
Infrastructure Engineering
1. Critical thinking* 64.4
2. Active listening 62.7
3. Reading comprehension* 62.0
4. Speaking 60.1
5. Judgment and decision making* 57.1
6. Complex problem solving* 57.1
7. Monitoring 56.6
8. Coordination* 55.1
9. Time management* 64.3
10. Active learning* 52.7
Technology & Information
1. Critical thinking* 67.6
2. Reading comprehension* 66.7
3. Active listening 65.1
4. Speaking 61.7
5. Complex problem solving* 61.6
6. Judgment and decision making* 58.6
7. Writing* 56.7
8. Monitoring 56.2
9. Systems analysis* 55.5
10. Active learning* 54.6
Tourism & Outdoor Recreation
1. Speaking* 69.6
2. Active listening* 67.9
3. Social perceptiveness* 63.2
4. Service orientation* 62.7
5. Coordination* 60.5
6. Critical thinking 60.3
7. Monitoring* 60.1
8. Reading comprehension 57.4
9. Judgment and decision making 56.7
10. Time management* 55.6
Transportation & Logistics
1. Speaking 62.3
2. Active listening 62.1
3. Critical thinking 59.3
4. Reading comprehension 58.1
5. Monitoring 57.4
6. Coordination* 54.7
7. Social perceptiveness 54.5
8. Time management* 54.1
9. Judgment and decision making 53.5
10. Complex problem solving 52.6
[1] The Colorado Talent Pipeline Report, 2015
[2] The Colorado Talent Pipeline Report, data sourced from LinkedIn, 2015
[3] Ibid
[1] Living wage is defined for a family with two adults (one working) and one child. In Colorado, the living wage for a family of this size is $21.18 per hour, according to www.livingwage.mit.edu. At the time of the analysis, above average growth included jobs at or above 24.4 percent growth and high projected annual openings included jobs with at least 40 annual average openings.