RI Department of Labor and Training Division Recognized Nationally for Excellence

RI Department of Labor and Training
Receives National Recognition for Third Straight Year

The National Association of State Workforce Agencies (NASWA) recently announced the 2005 Labor Market Information Communication/Publication Awards at its annual meeting. Rhode Island ’s Department of Labor and Training, Labor Market Information (LMI) Division received national recognition for the third straight year.

Rhode Island received the First Place award in the category of Product or Service to Increase Workforce Development Staff’s Understanding of Labor Market and Workforce Information for the “NAICS and SOC Brochures – An explanation of Industry and Occupational Coding.” The judges felt that these brochures would be very helpful to workforce investment board staff who are unfamiliar with the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) and the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) terminology.

“Following several meetings with career and workforce development professionals in our department, it became clear that there was some confusion among them regarding the differences between industries and occupations,” said Robert J. Langlais, Assistant Director for Labor Market Information. “The NAICS and SOC brochures were developed to provide users of labor market information with a clearer understanding of the two classification systems.”

The National Association of State Workforce Agencies is the national organization of state officials who administer employment and training services, Unemployment Insurance laws, and labor market information programs in the 50 states, the District of Columbia , and Puerto Rico . The state LMI divisions produce, analyze, and distribute workforce information vital to economic, education, and career decision-making. These statistics include employment, unemployment, and wage information produced through federal-state cooperative programs administered by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“An expanded interest in meeting customer needs has impacted the types of LMI products currently being developed and delivered,” said Department of Labor and Training Director, Adelita S. Orefice. “It gives me great pleasure to congratulate the Department’s Labor Market Information Division on receiving this prestigious NASWA award and for their contribution in analyzing and translating critical economic data into easy-to-use information for decision-making.”

Products developed by labor market information staff contribute to the knowledge of human resource utilization for employment security, job training, occupational, economic, and other workforce development planners. For copies of the brochures mentioned above and other labor market publications, please contact the LMI Division at (401) 462-8740 or email lmi@dlt.ri.gov or visit the LMI web site at www.dlt.ri.gov/lmi.