In this tough economic time, nothing matters more than helping people find and be trained for good jobs. We call it workforce development, but what it really is is jobs, jobs, jobs. And in the end, a good workforce development system is not just good for employees, but it's critical to be competitive in attracting good employers as well--because more than anything, those employers' greatest need is good, well-trained and reliable employees.
One of my assigments as a County Commissioner is that I represent the County on the Workforce Investment Board, which guides and oversees our workforce development efforts (which primarily occur at our Super Jobs Center on Central Parkway). And today we received the year-end results of the work done under the WIB Board. Bottom line: we've made huge progress!
From July 2007 to June 2008, the Super Jobs Center met every performance goal we had set, sometimes in dramatic fashion. A few examples:
- Job Center Registrants totaled 25,671—366% of goal
- Total Full-Time Employments totaled 3,539—153% of goal
(Ex-offender Employments, one of our focus areas, totaled 303—three times the goal)
- Employment in High Demand industries (like health care, construction, customer
service) totaled 1,247—328% of goal
- Retention rate for employment was 87.8%--103% of goal
- Total employers served was 1,102—153% of goal
And in case anyone wonders if we set our standards too low, when we look around the state, no other county comes close to our success. Using the state's measuring stick, we had 3,809 job placements in 2007. Summit County was the next leading county, at 1812. Next was Cuyahoga County at 1435, and then Franklin County at 919. We more than doubled the next best performer!
Needless to say, outstanding work led to these results--even in a tough environment. Thanks to the leadership (including Mayor Mallory) and all the staff at the WIB, County, SuperJobs and associated agencies for achieving these results.
Also needless to say, in this tough economy, we can't rest on our laurels. We need to build on our results to help even more citizens find and be prepared for good jobs, and to help even more employers find the best-prepared employees anywhere in the state.
Finally, this is another good example of what happens when the City and County work together.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
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2 comments:
Oh, David, there is none so blind as those who will not see...
Nothing can take away successes, except numbers manipulated by the a system that hurts the consumers of services.
I do applaud improvements, and there have been many, but I don't ignore that there are lies, damn lies, and stats. We have been far more successful in manipulating the state system of performance measures than we have been at improving lives.
The ultimate system successes does both.
Do a survey of people who didn't finish the "program" and find out why, and ask the question on those who did finish, to what extent Super Jobs was integral to their success at finding a "good" job.
Not to denigrate the successes they have made in the last year or so, but there is significant room for improvement
I agree there is room for improvement. But there are also moments to note when great improvement has been made. These statistics tell a story of impressive improvement in a critical area.
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