Resources for Policy Makers

CURRENT EMPLOYMENT STATISTICS (CES) Every month, Current Employment Statistics (CES) surveys business establishments in order to produce estimates of employment, hours, and earnings data. CES data are compiled for all States, major metropolitan statistical areas (MSA), and the nation as a whole and broken down by industry according to the North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS). CES is a federal-state cooperative program funded by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).  To view monthly or annual historical CES Data, access the Colorado LMI Gateway and follow these steps:

Select “Current Employment Statistics.”

• In Step 1, Select a geographic area.  If you select “Metropolitan Statistical Areas,” a list of areas will drop down.  Only one area can be selected at a time.  Be sure to click the “Select” button at each step.
• In Step 2, select annual or monthly, then select years or months.  Multiple time periods can be selected by holding down the “Ctrl” or “Shift’ keys.  If you wish to see over-the-year or over-the-month change, select only one year or month at a time.  If you select more than one year or month, Step 3 will allow you to select industries.
• In Step 3, select industries (using the Ctrl or Shift keys).  This is available only if you selected more than one year or month in Step 2.
• Finally, click the “Search” button.

A summary of  “Colorado’s Economy at a Glace” from the Bureau of Labor Statistics can be found here:  http://www.bls.gov/eag/eag.co.htm.

The Bell Policy Center is committed to identifying and promoting policies that help individuals and families access opportunity and move toward self-sufficiency.  The organization has produced excellent, informative reports, which can be found here.

The Colorado Center on Law and Policy is one of Colorado’s leading advocacy organizations dedicated to promoting justice, economic security, access to health care and sound fiscal policies. CCLP concentrateson on health care, welfare reform, fiscal policy and other critical issues, providing research, education, advocacy and litigation on behalf of lower-income Coloradans, policymakers, opinion leaders, nonprofit organizations and the general public.  CCLP is also the leading stakeholder in the Economic Opportunity Poverty Reduction Task Force, a legislative committee seeking ways to reduce poverty by half by 2019. Members and other Colorado residents discuss ideas at the task force’s blog, called 2019.

The Women of Color Policy Network of the Roundtable of Institutions of People of Color was established in 2000 to incorporate the needs, narratives and insights of women of color in the formulation of social, economic and welfare policy.

National Skills Coalition conducts and sponsors research to better inform general debates about the need for federal investments in the skills of America’s workers and industries, and the effectiveness of these investments and provides sample state level legislation and state level middle skill jobs reports.  Click here to download legislation examples from Indiana, Iowa, Massachusetts and Oregon.

Blueprint for Jobs in the 21st Century: A Vision for a Competitive Human Resource Policy for the American Workforce:  The Blueprint is a comprehensive document reflecting the perspectives of chief human resource officers, the people primarily responsible for hiring and staffing millions of employment positions in the United States and contains many recommendations to accelerate job creation for policy makers.  To download the report, click here.

Good Jobs First is a leading resource for grass roots groups and public officials seeking to make economic development subsidies more accountable and effective.