During the September convening of the MAX Data Council, council members were provided an inside look into the data behind the Atlanta MSA Regional Skills Analysis, a July 2020 report that provides a snapshot of opportunities for reskilling and upskilling individuals in the Atlanta area labor force. The report was produced through a partnership with the City of Atlanta, UNCF, the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard Kennedy School, and Emsi. The analysis resulted in some key insights as shared through the report’s executive summary, such as:
- Atlanta has experienced recent rapid economic growth and had been on track to continue that trend and exceed national growth over the next five years before the national crisis caused by COVID-19.
- Black workers in Atlanta are concentrated in lower wage roles and have been disproportionately hit by job and wage declines due to COVID-19.
- Atlanta enjoys a surplus of local talent in two key growth areas: Business/Finance and IT/Math.
- Atlanta will need to cultivate local skills to address anticipated needs in Healthcare and Production/Manufacturing.
- Looking specifically at the Healthcare field shows how the current equity gap may only get worse in the economic recovery if no corrective action is taken.
- Reskilling of workers in Hospitality, Healthcare Support, Retail, and Clerical roles can help close equity gaps.
Click here to review the report from Emsi.
Joining the MAX Data Council was Jane Wiseman, an Innovations in Government Fellow with the Ash Center. Wiseman reviewed the Atlanta SkillScape Dashboard, a custom-built data tool to provide a high level overview of the labor market landscape in Atlanta drawing upon the broad set of labor market data available through Emsi. Specifically, SkillScape provides visualizations to help understand which career areas and roles have the highest employment in terms of workers (including Black workers), which career areas have seen the highest growth in the last five years, and broadly the supply and demand of each career area in the Atlanta MSA – especially in the Healthcare, IT, Business/Finance, and Production/Manufacturing, all key growth career areas for the region.
Click here for a two-page guide resulting from this work that is geared specifically for youth who are considering career pathways, and the career counselors who work to guide them.