Colleges in the United States are referring to job-market data to develop new programs and curriculums.
An increase in the number of colleges seeking for a more reliable and more updated job-market data has been observed in the past months. This is due to the rising number of colleges basing their program and curriculum development on the job-market data analysis.
Burning Glass Technologies, a technological service delivering job-market data analytic is one of the most college-visited sites lately. In order to find the demand for specific credentials and skills, they scan about three million job opportunities daily on over 40,000 job-listing websites daily.
These results are then used by institutions to develop new programs as one Floyd County, Kentucky college has done lately. With the aim of producing graduates with high-demand skills and credentials to match the job-market data, Big Sandy Community, and Technical College introduced Kentucky's first ever associate-degree program in broadband technology.
The federal government is also issuing job-market data, however, colleges prefer to rely on a more current real-time data just like what Burning Glass Technologies provides. These colleges consider the U.S. Department of Labor as more of focusing on the past, contrary to their goal of looking and preparing students for the future.
Aside from Kentucky, community college systems from across the country are innovating their collection of job-market data. North Carolina Community College for one revealed that they are using Chmura Economics & Analytics and Emsi, according to Linda Weiner, North Carolina Community College vice president for engagement and strategic innovation, The Chronicle reported.
This idea of considering new ways of job-market data collection, colleges can make decisions easier as they already have a preview of their graduates' remuneration. The increase in speed on data gathering will be useful for these colleges in creating curriculums that will not only benefit the students but their community as well, The Information Week reported.
