Jobs Agency To Receive $1 Million To Improve And Align Workforce, Education Data

The Arkansas Department of Workforce Services was awarded more than $1 million to improve its data collection of education programming, skills gaps, job seekers and employer needs.

The state agency received $1,064,377 to support Arkansas’ Workforce Data Quality Initiative, which was first implemented in Arkansas in 2012. Through the initiative, Arkansas has developed an infrastructure for maintaining a reliable and useful data system that matches workforce data with educational data, creating a longitudinal data system, officials said.

Arkansas was one of 10 states to receive funding for the initiative from the U.S. Department of Labor.

“The funds from this grant will be used to enhance the state’s existing data system to not only assist us in making workforce development programs more effective, but to also provide consumers with more user-friendly information that will help them select the training and education programs that will be most beneficial to them,” said ADWS Director Daryl Bassett.

Employers and the State Chamber of Commerce have argued that as many as 30,000 jobs may be currently unfilled at a variety of different in-state companies. Meanwhile, Arkansas’ pool of unemployed workers stood at 76,800 in May 2015, a 5.7% statewide unemployment rate.