In December 2009, the Department of Labor awarded approximately $50 million in State LMI Improvement grants (LMI grants) to 24 individual state workforce agencies (SWAs) and 6 consortia of SWAs. Grantees used these LMI grants, which ranged from approximately $750,000 to $4 million, to collect, analyze, and disseminate LMI, and enhance the labor-exchange function in states. Each SWA or consortium was required to form multiple partnerships to help facilitate efforts to improve LMI in the state. Grantees’ activities included efforts to understand green jobs, connect workers to jobs, and enhance LMI labor exchange infrastructure for jobs and careers in the energy efficiency and renewable energy industries. Grantees’ activities were expected to benefit job seekers, businesses, educational institutions, and the overall economy in their states or regions.

In September 2010, ETA contracted with Mathematica Policy Research (Mathematica) to evaluate the extent to which the State LMI Improvement grant program was achieving its stated purposes. Mathematica was asked to broadly document the activities of all 30 grantees, provide a detailed description of the activities and partnerships of a subset of grantees, and identify grantees’ challenges and promising practices. The evaluation team collected in-depth descriptions of the experiences of nine grantees: Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Labor and Industry, Indiana Department of Workforce Development, Iowa Workforce Development, Maryland Department of Labor Licensing and Regulation, New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development, New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions, State of Oregon Employment Department, and Vermont Department of Labor. This study includes a summary report of the grantee activities, a final report and three LMI practitioner briefs that explore lessons from the LMI grant programs:

Using Real-Time LMI to Explore Green Jobs provides some lessons learned from the grant­ees’ experiences using LMI available on a real-time basis when compared with information that has been vetted in some form. The lessons include being cautious when using real-time LMI and combining such information with traditional data to ensure a higher level of reliability. While the brief draws on experiences and lessons from all of the LMI grantees, it focuses on the work of the Northeast Consortium.

Disseminating Labor Market Information: Insights from the State LMI Improvement Grants uses the experiences of the LMI grantees to offer some strategies to consider when planning future LMI dissemination efforts. While the LMI grantees were particularly focused on disseminating infor­mation on green jobs, the lessons from these dissemination efforts are more broadly applicable.

Strategic Partnering to Advance LMI: Insights from the State LMI Improvement Grants is intended to serve as a reference for LMI prac­titioners and others when considering future partnerships. It describes elements of strategic partnering to advance labor market information.