OVERVIEW
Through its Trailblazers project, the Center for Economic and Policy Studies brings current labor market and workforce data together with policy analysis to support Career and Technical Education in Virginia.
About Our Work
LONG-TERM OCCUPATIONAL PROJECTIONS
Every two years, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) releases new national employment projections for over 800 different occupations. Using this information, the Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) develops occupational employment projections for Virginia and its regions. To make these numbers more useful to Career and Technical Education (CTE) planners and administrators, who frequently require labor market and employment data to plan programs and to guide students in their career choices, Trailblazers aligns the VEC projection data with the CTE Career Clusters framework.
View the projections | View career cluster highlights
WORKFORCE BRIEFINGS AND REPORTS
Labor markets vary by region and are constantly shifting and evolving. The Center for Economic and Policy Studies shares its high-quality, data-driven labor market research in a variety of report formats to ensure that Virginia’s CTE students, teachers, and administrators remain up-to-date about the latest workforce trends. These reports leverage the Center’s expertise in policy analysis to help make labor market data more actionable and to inform the development of results-oriented strategies that improve the quality and impact of CTE programs throughout Virginia.
WORKPLACE READINESS SKILLS
Virginia’s Workplace Readiness Skills are a set of personal qualities, people skills, and professional abilities identified by Virginia employers and educators as essential for employee success in the workplace. Developed and updated over the past 20 years to adapt to changing workplace trends and needs, these skills are incorporated into the curriculum of every Career and Technical Education (CTE) course. Since many students develop these skills through hands-on work experience, the decreasing labor force participation and increasing school enrollment of Virginia’s teens means that school-based workplace readiness skills programs will become an even more vital resource in the future.
Read the summary report | full report
CONTACT US
If you have questions or would like more information about our workforce data reports and products, please contact Kathryn Crespin, kathryn.crespin@virginia.edu.