Seeking a source of Labor Market/Career Information can be a daunting task. There is so much information on the internet that you can be escorted to the point of confusion, frustration or even worse, to the point of being misled by those who have a product/service to promote. There might be, however, a safe way to “cut to the chase”.

The old phrase “follow the money” can apply to the search for labor market/career information, too. One additional word, however, needs to be added to the phrase. “Follow the taxpayer’s money”.

Review of the internet resources in an effort to find free, reliable, and unbiased job/career related information appears to be best satisfied if you stick with the public agencies; stick with the tax supported sources. Federal, State and Local tax supported sources have such a wide range of information that you probably need look no further.
Following are several readily available resources including some of their internal links which might shorten your search time.

US Department of Labor

Calif. Employment Development Department

California Career Zone

Workforce Connection

Fresno Co Economic Development Corp.

Fresno Regional Jobs Initiative

CTE Online

Resource for curriculum information on pathways.

Two Examples of Local Efforts for Increased Employment Opportunities

Below are two thoughts which might be of interest and prove valuable to those in the Career Technical Education field.

The Fresno Regional Workforce Investment Board www.workforce-connection.com received significant funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) in 2009. Among their efforts to increase the positive employment opportunities in our local area was the identification of five high- growth, high-wage industries. These industries are:

  • Healthcare
  • Automotive Technology
  • Manufacturing
  • Information Technology
  • Green Technology
  • Short-term training programs were also offered.

Secondly, it is worth reporting that since 2004 the local at will, public-private Regional Jobs Initiative (www.fresnorji.org) has taken a partnership approach to assisting in establishing a “built to last” economy in the greater Fresno/Clovis/Madera region. The idea has led to creating clusters of related industries based on the idea that regional economies are better able to withstand the ups and downs of the economy.

The RJI currently is advocating 10 industry clusters for which efforts are being made to grow existing businesses and launching new ones and thereby growing employment opportunities. These 10 industry clusters are:

  • Arts & Culture
  • Clean Energy
  • Food Processing & Agriculture
  • Information Technology
  • Logistics & Distribution
  • Manufacturing
  • Software Development
  • Tourism
  • Water Technology