Dashboard Confessional: The State of Data in Regional Development

2015 National Conference | September 22, 2015

Brian KelseyCivic Analytics LLC

http://civicanalytics.com@civicanalytics

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Data availability: What should practitioners know?

• Money attracts partners, but so can thoughtful analysis of readily available data.

• Applied research in economic & workforce planning is art & science – focus on the story’s ability to motivate action.

• Challenge now is maintaining focus in an increasingly data-obsessed environment.

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What data has taught me about people and places

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• Raised $20,000+ from regional businesses to support applied economic research program.

• Maintained participation and buy-in from C-level executives of telecom companies during onset of dot-com recession.

• Viewed as unbiased source of value-added data/insight.

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Data is a value-added service that peoplewill pay for and passes the market failure

test for justifying public sector role.Lesson #1

Compelling stories using objective data and transparent analysis build trust and

get stakeholders around the table.Lesson #2

9http://www.compete.org/storage/images/uploads/File/PDF%20Files/Regional_Innovation_Guidebook.pdf

10http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/02/why-the-gap-between-worker-pay-and-productivity-is-so-problematic/385931/

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Data trumps frameworks.Lesson #3

Regions may be right unit of analysis, but pretending jurisdictional boundaries or

service areas don’t matter is naïve.Lesson #4

No amount of federal or state money will fill a leadership vacuum in a region.Lesson #5

15http://indicatorsproject.com/

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Call to Action

Source: http://seveds.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/FINALCEDSReport.2013.pdf

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Call to Action SMART Goals

Source: http://seveds.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/FINALCEDSReport.2013.pdf

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SMART Goals

Source: http://seveds.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/FINALCEDSReport.2013.pdf

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21East Arkansas Planning & Development District http://eapdd.com

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Indicators can be useful communication device, but must be actionable.

Lesson #6Linking, leveraging, & aligning economic,

workforce, & education is impossible without access to the right data.

Lesson #7

Data availability is empowering (nudging) planners toward commitment to change.Lesson #8

24http://startup-ecosystem.compass.co/ser2015/

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Tech Talent: Labor Market Overview

• 108,310 total jobs in tech sector• 67,546 jobs in “core” tech talent

occupations w/ in-demand skills• ~2,500 to 3,500 job openings in

core tech talent occupations are expected per year in Austin for 2014-2024 time period*

• ~1,500 degrees and certificates in core related programs awarded by Austin area schools annually

How are we defining “tech”?

ATC generally follows the methodology used by TECNA/CompTIA/TechAmerica for their annual Cyberstates report.* It currently includes 49 industries.

Austin’s largest tech sectors ranked by minimum of $1 billion contribution to regional gross domestic product:

#1 Computer & Peripheral Equipment#2 IT Services & Applications#3 Internet & Telecommunications#4 Semiconductors#5 Software

Source: EMSI, 2014. Jobs include self-employment. *Job postings are unique, de-duplicated average monthly openings advertised online during March 2014-March 2015 and include job openings at tech and non-tech businesses (i.e. total demand for core technical workers). See full Tech Talent Report for details and explanation of methodology used for estimates.

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Not difficult

Somewhat difficult

Difficult

Very difficult

Extremely difficult

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70% reported moderate-significant difficulty in hiring but majority confident in ability to grow in Austin

Source: ATC Tech Talent Employer Survey.

I don’t know

Not confident

Somewhat confident

Confident

Very confident

Extremely confident

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≥ Difficult: 70% ≥ Confident: 57%

How confident are you that Austin will be able to meet your future workforce demand?

Overall, how difficult is it to find qualified people to fill job openings at your company in Austin?

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EmployeesRespondents

Number*DifficultyAverage

ConfidenceAverage

1 to 10 19 3.1 2.8

11 to 50 15 3.5 2.5

51 to 125 7 3.6 2.4

126 to 500 6 2.5 2.8

501+ 3 2.3 3.7

Total (Ans) 50 3.1 2.7

Source: ATC Tech Talent Employer Survey. Second-stage firms have reached a growth stage of $1M to $50M in receipts and 10 to 100 employees. For more on second-stage company research see Edward Lowe Foundation at http://edwardlowe.org/who-we-serve/secondstage. *Complete responses only (n = 50). Differences not statistically significant.

1 = Not difficult2 = Somewhat difficult3 = Difficult4 = Very difficult5 = Extremely difficult

1 = Not confident2 = Somewhat confident3 = Confident4 = Very confident5 = Extremely confident0 = I don’t know

2nd Stage/Growth Stage companies may be feeling disproportionate impact of perceived shortage

Overall, how difficult is it to find qualified people to fill job openings at your company in Austin?

How confident are you that Austin will be able to meet your future workforce demand?

31% respondents reported that unfilled jobs having harmful to extremely harmful effect. Not harmful/didn’t know: 33%

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Tech Talent Pipeline Challenges

• 42% of respondents require at least 5 years of work experience for job applicants to be considered qualified for technical jobs.

• 25% of respondents don’t hire recent college graduates and 24% don’t offer internships.

• Only 12% of respondents reported that they consider recent college graduates qualified, or don’t ask for min years work experience.

Source: ATC Tech Talent Employer Survey.

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Cost of living is (still) lower in Austin, but salary gaps are significant with other leading regional markets

Median Wage Bottom 10% Top 10%

San Jose $116,314 $74,110 $178,693

Seattle $102,066 $66,706 $148,824

Washington DC $101,712 $62,899 $154,565

San Francisco $100,547 $63,398 $155,480

Boston $96,616 $61,797 $148,387

Durham-Chapel Hill $88,691 $56,992 $135,886

Raleigh $83,054 $53,955 $123,386

Dallas $81,848 $50,710 $127,150

Austin $80,454 $49,150 $127,442

Salt Lake City $75,254 $47,424 $111,155

National $81,037 $49,275 $129,480

Table shows wage comparisons for core occupation (19) jobs in tech as of 2013 (latest available).

Bottom 10% and Top 10% refer to the wage level signifying that 10% of all jobs pay below (or above).

Study Follow-Up:

We need better grasp on impact of lower salaries in Austin to understand how talent supply is affected – e.g., where are most job offer declines occurring, early-career, mid, senior?

Source: EMSI, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Data is for 2013. Includes self-employment.

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Tech skills should be CTE priority in K-12 but current offerings in Austin not aligned w/ employer needs

ISD Certifications Offered Avg N/A

Network+ 1.9 44%

Cisco Net Associate (CCNA) 1.8 47%

A+ 1.8 50%

Cisco Entry Net Tech (CCENT) 1.7 47%

Internet & Comp Core Cert (IC3) 1.7 48%

Sun Cert Java Associate (SCJA) 1.6 47%

Adobe Dreamweaver 1.5 48%

Internet Webmaster (CIW) 1.5 48%

Strata IT Fundamentals 1.3 55%

TestOut PC Pro 1.3 54%

1 = Not important2 = Somewhat important3 = Important4 = Very important5 = Extremely importantN/A = Not applicable

60% of respondents reported that all certifications currently offered in Austin area school districts were not applicable or not important.

Source: ATC Tech Talent Employer Survey. List of certifications offered in Austin area school districts was provided by E3 Alliance (October 2014). Scores were averaged from number of respondents providing a rating or answering N/A (i.e. blank responses were excluded).

Employer Needs Avg

JavaScript 3.8

Linux 3.5

Java 3.4

C++ 3.1

PHP 3.1

Python 3.1

Ruby 3.0

C# 2.9

Perl 2.6

Haskell 2.0

Others:Lisp 1.7/40%Go 1.5/45%

Write-ins:Objective-CSwift

Career & tech education (CTE)

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Data trumps frameworks, and also buzzwords (skills gap).

Lesson #9

EMSI deserves credit for anticipating how data can empower economic/workforce practitioners to drive change in regions.

Lesson #10

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We’ve made great progress breaking down data and program silos.

Call to action for teachers/trainers: helping next generation of applied researchers raised on infographics, dashboards, and “big data” learn how to ask good questions.

Source: xkcd

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@civicanalyticshttp://civicanalytics.com