In 2021 the Greater Memphis Chamber launched a new tool to help better inform businesses that are considering locating to the Memphis region.
The Memphis Moves dashboard provides a variety of employment and education data that employers can use to decide if Memphis is a good fit for them. This data includes information on the existing jobs in the region for various occupations, the number of graduates receiving an industry certificate or a degree, and an interactive map to help employers visualize where universities, colleges, and vocational and technical schools are located.
It’s the type of information most workforce organizations and chambers of commerce provide when asked by potential employers, but the Greater Memphis Chamber took the extra step of making that data quickly available on a public facing website.
Chamber Chief Innovation Officer and Senior Vice President of Workforce Development Amity Schuyler says the dashboard gives Memphis an advantage in the competition for jobs.
“We know that our public facing information is no doubt being consumed by businesses and site selectors who then are requesting further information,” said Schuyler. “The grain size of the data that they’re asking about for workforce development has been incredibly instrumental in keeping the conversations going, in keeping Memphis in contention for new business attraction and ultimately final decision.”
The Chamber’s Greater Memphis Economic Research Group (GMERG) led by Executive Director Tecora Murray is responsible for gathering the data and keeping the dashboard updated annually.
Schuyler says the information not only answers common questions, but it also helps workforce leaders sell the advantages the Memphis region has in the engineering and manufacturing sectors. The data is also useful for families and education leaders who want to learn more about what jobs actually exist in the region. That way they’re not focusing attention on fields where job prospects are slim.
“Really just trying to take a data driven approach to workforce development so that first, our businesses have what they need when they need it. I like to call it a speed of need workforce. And second, we’re setting up students especially, whether they’re high school or in university, for success and they’re getting good guidance, and they have access to good information about the jobs of the region,” said Schuyler. “We don’t want anybody driving blind. Workforce development is first and foremost a math equation. What do we need, how much of it do we need, and where are we going to get it from.”
Statewide Applications
The concept of making better use of data that the Greater Memphis Chamber is utilizing with Memphis Moves is going to receive more attention statewide this year.
The Tennessee General Assembly is expected to discuss legislation to improve the way the state utilizes its workforce data. The State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE) provided three recommendations late last year for lawmakers to consider.
They include:
- Creating public-facing dashboards that ensure a vision for data that persists.
- Adding career-relevant Standard Occupational Classification codes to the existing TN Data System to better understand how students are moving through education into the workforce.
- Bolstering the state’s TN DATA system by elevating efforts through state law and developing a model data-sharing agreement.
Tennessee SCORE President and CEO David Mansouri says these changes will help improve a state data system that isn’t adequately serving Tennessee’s workforce needs.
“Students and families need data to better understand which educational opportunities lead to high wage careers. School leaders need data to evaluate which educational opportunities are yielding success and employers need data to inform talent pipelines,” said Mansouri.
In Memphis the work with data is also seen as a tool to prevent losing one of the region’s most valuable resources.
Greater Memphis Chamber Director of Market Strategy Diamond Young says a critical goal of this data driven workforce development effort is to keep the next generation from having to move to find a job.
“We want to keep our talent in Memphis,” said Young. “This data is key to not only our teachers, but our students, too. In high school specifically, we are implementing vocational programs in some of our high schools across the city where they’re learning, for instance, advanced manufacturing in their junior and senior years. This allows the students to easily transition to a technical institution or even into a job directly.”
