Friday March 29, 2024
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The Kentucky Education and Workforce Development Cabinet’s Workforce Intelligence Branch is now a part of the Kentucky Center for Education and Workforce Statistics (KCEWS) following an alignment of the two state organizations that was finalized this month.

“KCEWS’ existing partnerships within the education and workforce community will allow the Workforce Intelligence Branch to build upon their current relationships and cultivate new ones,” said Education and Workforce Development Cabinet Secretary Hal Heiner. “KCEWS has been nationally recognized for its data collection, and this new alignment with the Workforce Intelligence Branch will serve to maximize its already great potential.”

The Workforce Intelligence Branch is responsible for developing and maintaining a comprehensive system of labor market and workforce data, including producing occupational projections and state and local employment rate data. KCEWS maintains the Kentucky Longitudinal Data System (KLDS) which integrates data from multiple state education and workforce sources. KCEWS’ data is utilized by policymakers, employers, local workforce areas, trainers, educators, students, career counselors, economic developers, job seekers and other government agencies.

Dr. Kate Akers, executive director of KCEWS, said the alignment provides the opportunity for use and analysis of data beyond the scope of that traditionally published in the Workforce Intelligence Branch.

“The integration of the Workforce Intelligence Branch into KCEWS will expand both the scope and quality of services and products provided to its customers so that they can make informed decisions when it comes to making education and career choices,” said Akers.

The alignment of the two offices has afforded the opportunity for KCEWS to overhaul its existing website, kcews.ky.gov. The site stores and makes available Kentucky’s labor market information and interactive reports such as KCEWS’ Kentucky Future Skills Report, which provides five-year projections on hiring and salary information for specific careers. A new platform constructed within the existing KCEWS website now highlights interactive maps filtered by local workforce areas and key workforce indicators. The tool allows the public to produce results at a county and industry level.

Traditional labor market information as well as historical data such as unemployment rates from previous years can be found on the newly improved site.  New interactive products will also continue to be designed around feedback received from stakeholders and data users.

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