WORKFORCE INTELLIGENCE NETWORK QUARTERLY REPORT 路 JACKSON COUNTY Q4 2015 & 2015 Annual Summary
CONTENTS Executive Summary Labor Market and Job Demand Overview Occupational Clusters Advanced Manufacturing: Skilled Trades & Technicians Advanced Manufacturing: Engineers & Designers Information Technology Health Care Retail & Hospitality Agriculture
Data Notes and Sources
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GEOGRAPHY
Prosperity Region 9 includes 6 counties: Hillsdale, Jackson, Lenawee, Livingston, Monroe, and Washtenaw. This report focuses on Jackson County.
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SECTION ONE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers and registered nurses are becoming two of the most in-demand occupations in Region 9 (pg. 7).
During Q4 2015, Jackson County employers posted 185 online job ads for truck drivers and demand for RNs (105 online job postings) increased 50% from Q3 2015, when employers in Jackson County posted 52 online job ads for these workers, and 70% since a year ago in Q4 2014 (31 postings).
Employment is on the rise in Jackson County (pg. 9).
While employment continues to increase steadily over recession-lows, the labor force remains fairly stagnant, following a business cycle pattern. Increasing employment and a steady labor force have pushed Jackson County’s estimated unemployment rate down over time.
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Q4 2015 job postings in the Skilled Trades & Technicians cluster decreased 39% from Q3 2015 (pg. 17).
Despite the drop in demand this quarter the steady cycle of employer demand here has helped push Skilled Trades & Technicians employment up over time. Jackson County Skilled Trades employment increased 2% from 2014 to 2015.
Employer demand in the Information Technology cluster started 2015 strong in Jackson County (pg. 33).
Employers here posted 259 online job ads for IT workers in Q1 2015, the highest level seen since analysis began in Q1 2011 but dropped slightly for each subsequent quarter this year. Jackson employers posted 154 online ads for IT jobs in Q4, still 34% higher than the 102 postings in Q4 2014.
Sustained high demand for the Health Care occupations has the potential to drive employment growth in Jackson County in the future, though employment was down in 2015 (pg. 41).
Jackson County employers posted 268 online job ads for Health Care workers in Q1 2015. The quarterly posting average for the rest of the year was 308.
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SECTION TWO LABOR MARKET AND DEMAND OVERVIEW
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TOP 20 JOBS IN DEMAND OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2015
* Data : Burning Glass Technologies
Similar to other Region 9 counties, heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers (185 postings) and registered nurses (105 postings) topped the list of Jackson County’s most in-demand jobs during Q4 2015. Demand for RNs increased 50% from Q3 2015, when employers in Jackson County posted 52 online job ads for these workers, and 70% since a year ago in Q4 2014 (31 postings). Another high demand job in the region, software developers for applications, joined Jackson County’s top jobs list during 2015 with 27 job postings during Q4 2015.
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EMPLOYER DEMAND OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2015
Employer demand, gauged by online job postings, increased in Jackson during Q4. Jackson County employers posted 2,066 online job ads, a 41% increase over the 1,219 ads posted during Q3 2015. Employer demand in Jackson County was turbulent this year; postings in Q1 totaled 2,236 but dropped to 1,219 during Q2 and Q3.
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EMPLOYMENT AND LABOR FORCE
Employment is on the rise in Jackson County. While employment continues to increase steadily over recession-lows, the labor force remains fairly stagnant, following a business cycle pattern. Increasing employment and a steady labor force have pushed Jackson County’s estimated unemployment rate down over time.
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EMPLOYMENT AND LABOR FORCE OVERVIEW
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EMPLOYMENT AND LABOR FORCE OVERVIEW
As of November 2015, an estimated 69,705 Jackson County workers were employed out of an available labor force of 72,750. There were small shifts in employment (+0.6%) and labor force (-0.1%) between Q3 and Q4. Employment increased 1.3% from 2014 to 2015 while the labor force remained about the same, decreasing 0.2%. November’s estimated unemployment rate in Jackson County was 4.2%, having fallen from 6.2% in January 2015. Rising employment coupled with a level labor force means that the drop in the unemployment rate can be mostly attributed to Jackson County workers finding new jobs.
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SECTION THREE OCCUPATIONAL CLUSTERS
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JACKSON COUNTY DEMAND OVERVIEW
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ADVANCED MANUFACTURING SKILLED TRADES AND TECHNICIANS WIN’s technicians/skilled trades category includes jobs related to advanced manufacturing. Southeast Michigan has more demand for skilled- trades labor, such as CNC machinists and welders, than almost anywhere else in the country. In 2015, skilled trades employment reached 4,458 individuals in Jackson County. NOTE: Skilled trades related to construction and repair are not included in this cluster, as the focus is on advanced manufacturing.
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ADVANCED MANUFACTURING SKILLED TRADES AND TECHNICIANS: TOP JOBS
* Data : Burning Glass Technologies The top three in-demand Skilled Trades & Technicians jobs in Jackson County remain unchanged from Q3 2015, and have been the same for over a year: first-line supervisors of production and operating workers (12 postings), production workers (11 postings), and welders, cutters, and welder fitters (7 postings). Civil engineering technicians joined the list with five postings during Q4, and two postings for mechanical engineering technicians keep it on the top-jobs list mostly dominated by trades workers.
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ADVANCED MANUFACTURING SKILLED TRADES AND TECHNICIANS: ONLINE JOB POSTINGS OVER TIME
Job postings in the Skilled Trades & Technicians cluster in Jackson County decreased 39% from 115 postings in Q3 to 70 in Q4 2015. Employer demand in this occupational cluster tends to peak during the second and third quarters of the year; 2015 postings followed this pattern with 116 postings in Q2 and 115 in Q3. The steady cycle of employer demand here has helped push Skilled Trades & Technicians employment up over time. Postings in the Skilled Trades & Technicians cluster accounted for 3.4% of total job demand in Jackson County during Q4 2015.
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ADVANCED MANUFACTURING SKILLED TRADES AND TECHNICIANS: EMPLOYMENT OVER TIME
Jackson County’s Skilled Trades & Technicians cluster employment grew almost 2% over the 4,380 workers employed during 2014. Employment in the cluster bottomed out during the recession at 3,351 workers employed during 2009 and is making a steady recovery. The 4,458 workers employed in the Skilled Trades cluster during 2015 indicates a return to pre-recession employment levels; in 2001 Jackson County had 4,630 workers employed in Skilled Trades jobs.
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ADVANCED MANUFACTURING SKILLED TRADES AND TECHNICIANS: TOP 15 JOBS WAGES
Five of the fifteen in-demand Skilled Trades & Technicians jobs in Jackson County offer entry-level workers hourly earnings above the $15 per hour living wage standard. Median hourly earnings for these occupations bring that number to 11 of the 15 jobs. Skilled Trades workers can enter into careers that pay well, with some postsecondary certificate or training, and can expect wages to rise with experience.
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ADVANCED MANUFACTURING SKILLED TRADES AND TECHNICIANS: TOP 15 JOBS LOCATION QUOTIENT
The location quotient (LQ) is a measure of relative concentration. In this case it measures the relative concentration of workers in an occupation in southeast Michigan compared to the US on average. Higher LQs typically indicate that employers will have an easier time finding talent because those workers are more concentrated in the area; lower LQs will make filling open positions more difficult. For example, tool and die makers (LQ = 5.85) are concentrated in southeast Michigan at 485% of the national average. Jackson County employers hiring tool and die makers should have a relatively easy time filling open positions. Conversely, textile cutting machine setters, operators, and tenders have an LQ of 0.21, meaning that the concentration of this type of worker in Jackson County is only 21% of the national average.
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ADVANCED MANUFACTURING SKILLED TRADES AND TECHNICIANS: TOP 15 JOBS RECENT REGIONAL GRADUATES
Due to the regional nature of the labor force in southeast Michigan, data is shown for degree and certificate completions awarded by colleges and universities from all 16-counties in the WIN partnership. Most Skilled Trades jobs are attainable with a high school diploma and some on-the-job training, with few requiring postsecondary education attainment. However, many of Jackson County’s most in-demand Skilled Trades & Technicians jobs show over 100 graduates in programs related to those occupations, indicating that the Southeast Michigan labor market provides an opportunity for Jackson County employers to recruit the workers they need.
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ADVANCED MANUFACTURING SKILLED TRADES AND TECHNICIANS: TOP 15 JOBS EDUCATION & TRAINING REQUIREMENTS
While most of the top in-demand Skilled Trades & Technicians occupations in Jackson County do not require advanced education or training beyond a high school diploma in reality employers prefer candidates with experience or specialized training in these fields. Skilled Trades occupations will also require moderate to long-term training. Technician occupations typically require an associate’s degree and supervisors need a post-secondary award. As a result of the higher necessary education, these occupations typically lead the Skilled Trades in wages offered.
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ADVANCED MANUFACTURING ENGINEERS AND DESIGNERS Jobs in the manufacturing industry can range from assembly and production, to skilled trades and technicians, designers and engineers, and even computer-related occupations such as software development. This section focuses on engineers & designers, which represent 1,760 employed individuals in Jackson County during 2015. Demand for engineers in the region has been consistent, and employment has been growing quickly.
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ADVANCED MANUFACTURING ENGINEERS AND DESIGNERS : TOP JOBS
* Data : Burning Glass Technologies Jackson County advanced manufacturing employers are demanding more industrial engineers. Demand for this occupation has grown from 4 online job ads in Q4 2014 to 21 in Q4 2015, topping the list of in-demand Engineering & Design jobs for the county. The rest of the top jobs list features consistently ranked occupations like electrical engineers (18 postings), civil engineers (16 postings), and mechanical engineers (12 postings).
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ADVANCED MANUFACTURING ENGINEERS AND DESIGNERS : ONLINE JOB POSTINGS OVER TIME
Employer demand in the Engineering & Design occupational cluster in Jackson was down slightly between Q3 and Q4 2015. Jackson employers posted 118 online job ads for Engineers during Q3 and 98 in Q4. 2015 started with a spike in postings; advanced manufacturing employers posted 150 job ads in Q1 2015, the highest level seen since analysis began in Q1 2011. Engineering & Design postings over time are volatile in Jackson County, an upward trend is visible. The 98 online job ads in this cluster during Q4 2015 represent 4.7% of total employer demand in Jackson County.
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ADVANCED MANUFACTURING ENGINEERS AND DESIGNERS: EMPLOYMENT OVER TIME
Employment in Jackson County’s Engineering & Design cluster grew for the fifth straight year in 2015. Data shows that the county gained 35 Engineering & Design workers in 2015 compared to 2014. Employment in this cluster has grown from a low 1,327 jobs in 2010, to surpass pre-recession employment levels.
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ADVANCED MANUFACTURING ENGINEERS AND DESIGNERS : TOP 15 JOBS WAGES
Engineering & Design occupations offer high wages to southeast Michigan workers. Employees in this cluster can earn well over the $15 per hour living wage standard as entry-level engineers (10th percentile wages). Engineering occupations also offer upward wage growth, with most of Jackson’s in-demand jobs paying over $30 per hour as median hourly earnings.
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ADVANCED MANUFACTURING ENGINEERS AND DESIGNERS : TOP 15 JOBS LOCATION QUOTIENT
The location quotient (LQ) is a measure of relative concentration. In this case it measures the relative concentration of workers in an occupation in southeast Michigan compared to the US on average. Higher LQs typically indicate that employers will have an easier time finding talent because those workers are more concentrated in the area; lower LQs will make filling open positions more difficult. For example, mechanical engineers have a LQ of 6.46, meaning that the concentration of this type of worker in the region is 6.46 times, or 546% higher, than the national average. Jackson County employers should have a relatively easy time recruiting mechanical engineers. Chemical engineers, on the other hand, are concentrated in southeast Michigan at only 56% the national average (LQ = 0.56).
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ADVANCED MANUFACTURING ENGINEERS AND DESIGNERS : TOP 15 JOBS RECENT REGIONAL GRADUATES
Most Engineering & Design occupations require postsecondary educational attainment of applicants. Due to the regional nature of the labor force in southeast Michigan data is shown for degree and certificate completions awarded by colleges and universities from all 16-counties in the WIN partnership. Program completions data from 2014 show that hundreds of southeast Michigan students graduated from programs related to high demand engineering jobs. Jackson County employers offering competitive wages have many qualified regional workers to choose from when recruiting for Engineering & Design occupations.
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ADVANCED MANUFACTURING ENGINEERS AND DESIGNERS : TOP 15 JOBS EDUCATION & TRAINING REQUIREMENTS
Nearly all of Jackson County’s in-demand Engineering & Design occupations require at least a bachelor’s degree. Industrial, electrical, and civil engineering applicants are expected to have a bachelor’s degree. Drafter and technician positions will require an associate’s degree.
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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Information technology jobs include occupations that are associated with entry level, technical, and professional careers related to the design, development, support and management of hardware, software, multimedia, and systems integration services. While the information technology cluster does not currently meet the employment levels of the other clusters, it is quickly growing. In 2015, IT occupational employment was 945 in Jackson County. Top jobs in this cluster include computer support specialists, computer systems analysts, and software developers for applications.
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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TOP JOBS
* Data : Burning Glass Technologies Computer systems analysts (33 postings) remain at the top of Jackson County’s in-demand Information Technology jobs list. Software developers for applications were the second most in-demand IT job for Q4 2015. Much like other Southeast Michigan counties, Jackson employers are increasingly looking to hire these workers. Jackson employees posted 27 online job ads for applications software developers during Q4 2015 while they only posted 4 during Q4 2014.
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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ONLINE JOB POSTINGS OVER TIME
Employer demand in the Information Technology cluster started 2015 strong in Jackson County. Employers here posted 259 online job ads for IT workers in Q1 2015, the highest level seen since analysis began in Q1 2011. Despite the strong start and the growing demand for competitive IT workers like applications software developers, employer demand dropped slightly for each subsequent quarter this year. Jackson employers posted 154 online ads for IT jobs in Q4, still 34% higher than the 102 postings in Q4 2014. Postings in Jackson County’s IT cluster accounted for 7.5% of total postings during Q4 2015.
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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY EMPLOYMENT OVER TIME
Employment in Jackson County’s Information Technology cluster has remained level over time, with a small dip during the 2009 and 2010 recession years. Employment estimates show that the county gained 16 IT workers in 2015 over 2014 for a total of 945 Information Technology employees.
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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TOP 15 JOBS WAGES
Similar to Engineering & Design occupations, Information Technology jobs offer high wages to southeast Michigan workers. Most entry-level workers in Jackson County’s high-demand IT occupations can make well over the living wage standard of $15 per hour, with most occupations making over $30 per hour at the median. High paying jobs such as these will require advanced educational attainment, for the most part.
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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TOP 15 JOBS LOCATION QUOTIENT
The location quotient (LQ) is a measure of relative concentration. In this case it measures the relative concentration of workers in an occupation in southeast Michigan compared to the US on average. Higher LQs typically indicate that employers will have an easier time finding talent because those workers are more concentrated in the area; lower LQs will make filling open positions more difficult. For example, systems software developers have a LQ of 1.32, meaning that the concentration of this type of worker is 32% higher in southeast Michigan than in the rest of the nation, on average. Applications software developers, one the region’s fastest growing occupations in terms of demand, has an LQ of 0.90, indicating that the concentration of these employees in Jackson is 90% of the national average.
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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TOP 15 JOBS RECENT REGIONAL GRADUATES
Due to the regional nature of the labor force in Southeast Michigan, data is shown for degree and certificate completions awarded by colleges and universities from all 16-counties in the WIN partnership. Like in Engineering & Design, the high paying Information Technology jobs will likely require at least a bachelor’s degree for entry-level work. Program completions data from 2014 show that many Southeast Michigan students are completing educational programs that would qualify them for the open Information Technology positions in Jackson County. However, recruiting in this occupational cluster is becoming highly competitive; employers face demand from other regional employers and employers out of state.
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INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TOP 15 JOBS EDUCATION & TRAINING REQUIREMENTS
Thirteen of Jackson County’s top fifteen Information Technology jobs require a bachelor’s degree for entry-level work. Employers would also like to see some prior work experience, especially in occupations like database administrator and computer and information systems managers. Some Information Technology jobs may be attainable with some college or an associate’s degree, like a career as a web developer or computer use support specialist.
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HEALTH CARE WIN’s health care occupation cluster includes jobs related to health care support and practitioners. This cluster is one of Southeast Michigan’s largest with, 6,548 employees in 2015 in Jackson County. Employment in this cluster has been consistently growing, more health care workers needed to care for Michigan’s aging population and in response to regulatory and other changes. Registered nurses are routinely the most in-demand job in this cluster.
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HEALTH CARE TOP JOBS
* Data : Burning Glass Technologies Like in many other Southeast Michigan counties, registered nurses are the most in-demand Health Care occupation. Jackson County employers posted 105 online job ads for RNs during Q4 2015. This is a near doubling of the 53 ads the occupation garnered in Q3 2015, and is 70% higher than the 31 job ads posted for nurses a year ago, in Q4 2014. Demand for RNs far outpaces demand for license practical and license vocational nurses (23 postings) and physical therapists (21 postings) in Jackson County.
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HEALTH CARE ONLINE JOB POSTINGS OVER TIME
Employer demand for the Health Care occupations increased during Q4 2015 and throughout the year on the whole. Jackson County employers posted 268 online job ads for Health Care workers in Q1 2015. The quarterly posting average for the rest of the year was 308. The sustained high demand for the Health Care occupations, especially registered nurses, has the potential to drive employment growth in Jackson County in the future, though employment was down in 2015. Postings in the Health Care cluster accounted for 15.1% of total online job ads in Jackson County during Q4 2015.
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HEALTH CARE EMPLOYMENT OVER TIME
Employment estimates for the Health Care occupations in Jackson County show that the county lost 93, or 1%, of its employees from 2014 to 2015. Health Care employment has, however, been growing over time, adding nearly 1,000 jobs since 2001.
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HEALTH CARE TOP 15 JOBS WAGES
Many of Jackson County’s most in-demand Health Care jobs offer workers good wages, above the $15 per hour living wage standard for entry-level work. Registered nurses, in high demand across the region, can make up to $24.99 at entry-level (10th percentile), or $32.85 at the median. Jackson County employers are seeking Health Care workers with postsecondary education and are prepared to pay high wages.
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HEALTH CARE TOP 15 JOBS LOCATION QUOTIENT
The location quotient (LQ) is a measure of relative concentration. In this case it measures the relative concentration of workers in an occupation in southeast Michigan compared to the US on average. Higher LQs typically indicate that employers will have an easier time finding talent because those workers are more concentrated in the area; lower LQs will make filling open positions more difficult. Many of Jackson’s in-demand Health Care occupations have LQs greater than 1, meaning those workers are more concentrated here than throughout the rest of the US. The concentration of RNs (LQ = 1.18) in southeast Michigan is 18% higher than the national average, though regional employers are still seeking to hire more nurses.
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HEALTH CARE TOP 15 JOBS RECENT REGIONAL GRADUATES
Due to the regional nature of the labor force in southeast Michigan, data is shown for degree and certificate completions awarded by colleges and universities from all 16-counties in the WIN partnership. Program completions data from 2014 show that Southeast Michigan students are completing degrees that would prepare them for Jackson County’s most in-demand Health Care jobs. Over 4,000 students graduated with a degree in nursing, while most regional employers continue their search for RNs. This may be an indication that employers find the training students receive to be unsatisfactory, or that nursing students are not going on to pursue nursing jobs.
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HEALTH CARE TOP 15 JOBS EDUCATION & TRAINING REQUIREMENTS
Many Health Care occupations require at least an associate’s degree for entry-level work as a registered nurse, respiratory therapist, physical therapist assistant, or critical care nurse. Many hospitals will prefer a nurse with a four-year degree, though, which may explain the mismatch between employer demand and graduation data.Those Health Care occupations that require advanced educational attainment are physical therapists, nurse practitioners, speech-language pathologists, and physician assistants.
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RETAIL AND HOSPITALITY The retail and hospitality cluster is the largest occupational cluster that WIN analyzes, both in terms of employment and online job postings. This cluster is of very high importance to the region because it is the first to grow when the economy expands and the first to contract in a downturn: It is often a leading indicator. As defined by WIN, the retail and hospitality cluster encompasses all customer service occupations, with skills transferable across the retail sector, the hotel industry, food and beverage service industry, call centers, and other areas. In 2015, 113,648 individuals were employed in retail and hospitality related occupations in Jackson County.
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RETAIL & HOSPITALITY TOP JOBS
* Data : Burning Glass Technologies Retail salespersons consistently top the list of in-demand Retail & Hospitality jobs in Jackson County. Employers posted 78 online job ads for these workers during Q4 2015. Customer service representatives (66 postings) and first-line supervisors of retail sales workers (60 postings) also top the list. Demand for the high paying wholesale and manufacturing sales representative (except technical and scientific products) has more than doubled in the year since Q4 2014, promising good wages to Jackson County retail workers.
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RETAIL & HOSPITALITY ONLINE JOB POSTINGS OVER TIME
Online job postings in Jackson’s Retail & Hospitality cluster declined slightly from 491 postings in Q3 2015 to 454 postings in Q4. Employer demand in the cluster has hovered just below the 450 postings per quarter mark for two years now, following a record high posting total of 593 in Q3 2013. With stagnant employer demand, employment in the Retail & Hospitality cluster remains fairly level in Jackson County. Retail & Hospitality is Jackson County’s largest cluster in terms of demand; job postings in this cluster made up 22.0% of total job postings in Q4 2015.
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RETAIL & HOSPITALITY EMPLOYMENT OVER TIME
Retail & Hospitality employment in Jackson County remains level, with the cluster estimated to have lost only 141 jobs between 2014 and 2015. This occupational cluster was not affected by the recession; pre-recession employment numbers were above 16,000 and employment has hovered around 15,000 in recent years.
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RETAIL & HOSPITALITY TOP 15 JOBS WAGES
Retail & Hospitality occupations offer low entry-level wages for most of Jackson County’s in-demand jobs, but offer opportunity for upward wage growth. The high-paying Retail & Hospitality jobs are the ones most likely to require a postsecondary degree from applicants. Sales managers can make $28.89 and purchasing agents can make $19.55 per hour for entry-level work (10th percentile).
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RETAIL & HOSPITALITY TOP 15 JOBS LOCATION QUOTIENT
The location quotient (LQ) is a measure of relative concentration. In this case it measures the relative concentration of workers in an occupation in southeast Michigan compared to the US on average. Higher LQs typically indicate that employers will have an easier time finding talent because those workers are more concentrated in the area; lower LQs will make filling open positions more difficult. For example, purchasing agents have an LQ of 1.61, meaning that the relative concentration of these workers in southeast Michigan is 61% higher than the national average. Cashiers (LQ = 0.85) are concentrated in the region at just 85% of the national average, so local employers looking to hire cashiers may have a relatively more difficult time.
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RETAIL & HOSPITALITY TOP 15 JOBS RECENT REGIONAL GRADUATES
Many of the in-demand Retail & Hospitality occupations in Jackson County are attainable without any education or training beyond a high school diploma. Because many degree programs can prepare a person for multiple jobs and jobs in this cluster typically do not require advanced educational attainment, a low number of program completions may not necessarily indicate that there is a shortage of qualified candidates for open positions. Due to the regional nature of the labor force in southeast Michigan, data is shown for degree and certificate completions awarded by colleges and universities from all 16-counties in the WIN partnership.
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RETAIL & HOSPITALITY TOP 15 JOBS EDUCATION & TRAINING REQUIREMENTS
As discussed previously, the majority of Jackson County’s in-demand Retail & Hospitality occupations do not require education or training beyond high school. Employers may like to see some prior work experience. The highest paying Retail & Hospitality jobs will require a bachelor’s degree, like wholesale and manufacturing sales representatives.
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AGRICULTURE WIN’s agriculture cluster brings together occupations that require knowledge of the farming, livestock, the environment, and natural sciences. Occupations range from farm workers, to environmental engineers, to meat butchers, and recreation workers. In 2015, 31,804 individuals were employed in the agriculture cluster in Jackson County.
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AGRICULTURE TOP JOBS
* Data : Burning Glass Technologies
Low postings in the Agriculture occupational cluster make it hard to track trends in top jobs over time. Wholesale and manufacturing sales representatives for technical and scientific products topped the list of in-demand Agricultural jobs in Q4 2015 with six online job ads. Environmental science and production technicians pulled five postings, and recreation workers and butchers and meat cutters each garnered four postings.
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AGRICULTURE ONLINE JOB POSTINGS OVER TIME
Jackson County employers posted 34 online job ads for Agriculture cluster occupations during Q4 2015, and 30 in Q3. Postings in this cluster follow a business cycle based on the season. Employer demand has fluctuated around 30 postings per quarter following a spike in postings during Q1 and Q2 2012. Demand for occupations in the Agriculture cluster made up 1.6% of total online job ads in Jackson County during Q4 2015.
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AGRICULTURE EMPLOYMENT OVER TIME
Agricultural employment in Jackson County has been growing over time. Employment numbers for 2015 registered a decrease from 2014’s 2,254 employees, but the general trend has been toward slow growth in this occupational cluster.
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AGRICULTURE TOP 15 JOBS WAGES
Wages in the Agriculture occupational cluster in Jackson County range from low-paying jobs like landscaping workers making $8.25 per hour for entry-level work to environmental engineers making upwards of $25 per hour just starting out. Agriculture jobs in environmental health engineering and technical and scientific product sales are the highest paying of the cluster.
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AGRICULTURE TOP 15 JOBS LOCATION QUOTIENT
The location quotient (LQ) is a measure of relative concentration. In this case it measures the relative concentration of workers in an occupation in southeast Michigan compared to the US on average. Higher LQs typically indicate that employers will have an easier time finding talent because those workers are more concentrated in the area; lower LQs will make filling open positions more difficult. Southeast Michigan’s concentration of environmental science and protection technicians (LQ = 1.28) is 28% higher than throughout the rest of the US, indicating that employers should have a relatively easier time recruiting this type of worker. Meanwhile, forest and conservation technicians have a LQ of 0.15, which means that the concentration of these employees in southeast Michigan is just 15% of the national average.
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AGRICULTURE TOP 15 JOBS RECENT REGIONAL GRADUATES
Some of Jackson County’s Agriculture occupations, like environmental engineers or occupational health and safety workers, require at least a bachelor’s degree of applicants. Program completions data for 2014 show that Southeast Michigan students are completing programs that would qualify them for open positions in Jackson County. Because many degree programs can prepare a person for multiple careers, students graduating from related degree programs may not necessarily pursue employment in that occupation. Due to the regional nature of the labor force in Southeast Michigan, data is shown for degree and certificate completions awarded by colleges and universities from all 16-counties in the WIN partnership.
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AGRICULTURE TOP 15 JOBS EDUCATION & TRAINING REQUIREMENTS
Of the top Agriculture jobs in-demand in Jackson County, sales and technician positions, like technical and scientific product sales representatives and food scientists and technologists or foresters, are more likely to require a bachelor’s degree from applicants. Most other Agriculture cluster occupations do not require educational attainment beyond a high school diploma.
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SECTION FOUR DATA NOTES AND SOURCES
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DATA NOTES AND SOURCES SPECIAL DATA NOTE • Due to changes in Burning Glass’s aggregation, parsing, and deduplication methods implemented in December 2014, data from previously released reports should not be compared to data in reports starting in Q4 2014 and moving forward. For the Q4 2014 report, the WIN team re-gathered and analyzed all of the data (postings from 2011 through 2014) to ensure that all numbers are up-to-date. If you would like information on the differences between the updated data and data from previous reports, please contact WIN's Research Director Colby Spencer Cesaro at colby.cesaro@win-semich.org. • Wage, location quotient, completion, and education requirement data is shown for the 16 county region that is part of the WIN partnership. • All numbers included in this report are the correct and updated data. • Wage and educational attainment data available varies depending on the occupation. All wage and educational attainment data provided is for the 6digit SOC code. Some 6-digit codes do not have education or wage data available, in this case we leave the information blank. • Educational attainment data available refers to the share of the current workforce in each bracket, not what is shown in postings. Employers may require different educational attainment than what is in this report. • Quarterly reports: Due to a data update in Burning Glass Technologies’ Labor Insight tool, comparisons should not be made between data from each quarterly report and the annual review data should not be compared to data from previous quarterly reports. • Adjustments to the labor force information were also made to reflect and incorporate updated inputs, re-estimation, and controlling to new statewide totals. Much of the information related to monthly and quarterly employment is updated several months after the initial release. More information can be found here: http://www.bls.gov/lau/launews1. htm • This report uses $15 as a "living wage" estimate. Any job paying more than this is considered to pay at least a living wage. Below $15 is less than a living wage. This definition is based on a median household income in Michigan which is close to $50,000 per year. If we assume that most homes have two income earners and both earn at least $15 per hour, then that household's anual income would be at least $62,000 putting these jobs above the median.
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DATA NOTES AND SOURCES UNDERSTANDING DEMAND VS EMPLOYMENT • Employment refers to actual employment numbers—the number of people in jobs—in targeted industries or occupations. • Demand refers to statistics derived from employer job postings, which indicate the potential for employment but may or may not materialize into actual jobs. • Job posting-related demand, as presented in this report, is measured by online job postings. Employer demand may be larger than what is highlighted in this report if employers find talent by other means.
DATA SOURCES • Labor market demand data for this report was compiled using Burning Glass Technologies’ Labor Insight Tool, and analyzed by the Workforce Intelligence Network. Other data sources include, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and Economic Modeling Specialists Inc. (EMSI). Check out our website http://www.winsemich.org for more data and detailed information about our sources.
UNDERSTANDING CLUSTERS • Rather than focusing on talent demand within industries (types of firms), WIN generally emphasizes exploring talent demand based on occupations, including the skills, educational credentials, and experience needed to work in them. • WIN research examines industry data, as the health of companies can be useful for economic development purposes. However, shifting focus from industry to occupation is important as different types of occupations with extremely different skillsets may work within and across industries. For example, accountants, computer specialists, and engineers all may work in the manufacturing industry. • By clustering occupations, the talent system can identify employer demand for particular skillsets across multiple industry types and develop a response through training and pipeline development to meet that demand.
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BOARD ORGANIZATIONS
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT RESEARCH AND DATA, VISIT OUR WEBSITE: WWW.WIN-SEMICH.ORG/DATA-RESEARCH
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