Released on
Like the transition to the fall season, the freshly updated Occupations in Demand list has made its annual premiere.
WorkSource staff, partners and community members agree the Occupations in Demand list (OID) is a very useful tool, as it’s the most frequently accessed dataset on the Employment Security Department’s labor market information web page.
What is the Occupations in Demand list?
The Occupations in Demand list shows whether an occupation in a local area is considered in demand (abundance of opportunities), not in demand (few opportunities) or balanced. It also gives information about employment growth in particular occupations, its wages, typical education needed, and how to access job postings, training programs and other resources.
Fundamentally, the OID list is a tool used to support decisions surrounding eligibility for Training Benefits, Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) and other training programs. The goal is to create opportunities for workers to acquire the skills they need to access in-demand, living-wage jobs in their communities.
Eligibility for training programs often hinges on the ability to demonstrate that a prospective student is moving from an occupation that affords little opportunity to one likely to grow and support that student in the future.
The use of the list extends beyond training programs. The entire workforce development system uses the list as a starting point for discussions with job seekers and others. It helps them explore how they fit in the local economy and how to plan their careers.
The list’s broad use is also the reason it sometimes frustrates users. Why does the list sometimes show occupations in decline when employers show healthy hiring? Why does the list paint a different picture than other tools of the trade, like the Bright Outlook tool on the O*Net OnLine website?
WorkSource staff, job seekers, media and members of the workforce and economic development communities continually ask Employment Security’s economists those questions.
The answers are detailed and best tailored to a specific region and industry. But generally, my answer is this: The OID is one tool in our labor market data toolbelt. It’s not the only tool but it’s often the starting point. Sometimes information in the list might not match other tools or a person’s lived experience. But the Employment Security Department and its workforce development partners hone it together throughout the year to maintain its usefulness.
A product of partnership
The Occupations in Demand list is a collaboration between Employment Security and Washington’s 12 Local Workforce Development Boards (LWDBs). In fact, the list itself is owned and managed by each LWDB to ensure content is relevant, current and tailored to the needs and assets of each local area.
Here’s how we work together:
To generate the OID list, Employment Security staff start with occupational projections. State and local projections are based on historical employment patterns and reflect anticipated growth and turnover based on long-term, cyclical and seasonal employment trends.
Then labor market staff incorporate current conditions. Online job postings provide a quantitative measure of demand, and unemployment claims provide a measure of worker supply. A logic model combines these three measures in determining the initial list.
At this point, Employment Security distributes the list to the LWDBs. They share at their discretion with community stakeholders for evaluation, analysis and engagement.
This step is crucial for several reasons:
- Employment trends, job postings and unemployment claims may not capture specific nuanced measures of demand affecting industries and local areas. Demand for nurses, for example, is affected by different factors than demand for welders. And these nuances may not be adequately captured by historic employment trends, unemployment claims or online job postings.
- LWDBs often have current local knowledge about upcoming plant closures or new investments by a business in their area.
- LWDBs work closely with stakeholders, such as local colleges, which may have critical industry-specific information about student employment and local businesses.
LWDBs also work closely with Employment Security’s regional economists to research and refine the OID list. Together they dive into the nuances of their local economy.
LWDBs take 30 days every summer to do this deep dive with local stakeholders and regional economists. Then, they send to Employment Security any changes before the list goes live. LWDBs can also request changes to the list throughout the year, as new information comes to light and as the economy shifts in real time.
Do you have any questions about the list?
If so, you’re in good company! Please reach out to ESD’s regional economists. We are the designated contacts for all questions about the labor market, including the OID list.