State, ULL partner in study

• By MARSHA SILLS
• Advocate Acadiana bureau
• Published: Apr 4, 2009 - Page: 1BA

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LAFAYETTE — With the help of industry, the state is able to forecast job demands but whether enough workers are being trained to respond to those needs has yet to be charted.

The data gap will soon be filled as part of the Louisiana Workforce Commission’s $6 million, three-year contract with a University of Louisiana at Lafayette research consortium.

The research is expected to help the state focus training funds and guide the state’s universities and community and technical colleges in meeting work-force needs.

“It will determine how big the work-force pipeline needs to be — who to supply where and when in the state,” said Curt Eysink, Workforce Commission special projects director and press secretary.

The ULL research consortium includes the Center for Business and Information Technologies, Cecil J. Picard Center for Childhood Development and Lifelong Learning, and the Moody College of Business Administration.

So far, the state’s occupational forecast has only shown “half the picture,” said Ramesh Kolluru, director of ULL’s center for business.

“What we have not done in the state is look at the supply side,” he said. “While the industry might say they need 200 accountants, what we do not know is what is the capacity of the supply side. Are we producing 200 accountants?”

Much of the data needed already existed and was available through memorandums of understanding with other agencies, said Billy Stokes, director of the Picard Center.

He added that the Picard Center, as part of its evaluation of the LA4 Pre-K program, has seven years of longitudinal data on about 50,000 children.

“We were putting together a longitudinal look at children from birth to college to the workplace,” Stokes said.

Now, the data will be applied to the work-force forecast, as well as a simulator tool that will enable the Workforce Commission to pinpoint by region where work-force needs are and whether the supply is meeting the demand. The tool will also be able to simulate hypothetical scenarios that could impact industry, such as natural or financial disasters.

The tool will enable industry to prepare in a changing economy and provide real-time analysis, said Tia Edwards, deputy secretary of the Louisiana Workforce Commission.

The research project will also include input from business, education and community leaders during a forecasting conference this summer hosted by the Picard Center.