Background
In 2016 the East Michigan Council of Governments (EMCOG) contracted with Saginaw Valley State University (SVSU) to conduct a talent analysis of the Regional Prosperity initiative – Region 5 (RPI-5). The project was determined to be a top priority project by the RPI-5 Strategic Management Team (the collaborative) as a component/complimentary piece of the Great Lakes Bay Regional Business Attraction Plan.
Purpose
The primary purpose of the analysis was to quantify (and document) the region’s labor talent so that economic developers may more successfully market the region and attract businesses and employers. The talent analysis was to lend itself to two secondary goals of the project: 1) improving the region’s branding and 2) engaging the region’s college student population, as the latter represent a renewable resource for the region.
Focus
The talent analysis for RPI-5 was to address the following three overarching questions:
- What is the talent of the region’s current workforce?
- What is the potential talent of the region’s work force?
- What are the qualities/capabilities of the region’s post-secondary institutions and training programs?
Findings-Observations
The study is now complete (April, 2017). The findings of the study reveal a region facing important challenges. Perhaps the most productive role for the report is to provide a benchmark of the current status of the region’s labor force and potential labor force – to be used by stakeholders to identify areas where economic developers would like to encourage growth and development; to aid economic developers as they leverage the regions resources; and to facilitate conversations aimed at identifying key strategies to positively impact the region’s economy and move it forward in a positive and sustainable way.