Spring has sprung and Summer is almost here. IAWP is busy working on developing new services to bring you. Summer will bring activities with family and friends and also allow IAWP to offer activities as well for our members.

We are planning activities such as our annual picnic. We are also planning other community service type activities, such as a bbq for an elderly care center in Salem and a donut day. We will also be looking forward to/planning the Fall/Winter activities. Other possible/probable activities will include something associated with supporting our country’s veteran’s, which as I’ve said in the past is near and dear to my heart.

I don’t have a lot more to say on this “President’s Notes”. I will have a longer statement in the next Oregonizer, I just want to let you all know that the IAWP Oregon Chapter, YOUR IAWP Oregon Chapter, is actively working towards the future and there will be more information on expanding our services and activities in the near future.

As always, if you are interested in knowing more about YOUR IAWP Chapter please don’t hesitate to reach out to anyone on the board and/or you can reach out to the chapter by emailing: info@iawporegon.org.

Feel free to get ahold of me directly and let’s chat.

Looking forward to Summer, my favorite time of the year.

Ron Sohnrey

President

IAWP Oregon Chapter

Washington Chapter IAWP Winter Institute

March 16, 2024, in Westport, Washington

By Steve Corwin

Nino Gray gave an overview of this new program. Nino’s background: US Army, Make a Wish coordinator for Seattle Seahawks, Veterans Suicide Prevention Hotline, UI Navigator Team.

Washington Employment Security Department disbursed $3 million to nine community-based organizations (CBOs) to help workers learn about and apply for benefits for underserved populations. The grants fund services to 2025. See ESDWAGOV - ESD community partners.

These organizations worked in silos before, but part of the grant stipulations require them to share best practices and to help each other assist clients with warm handoff referrals to additional supportive services. To kick off this CBO UI Navigator program staff from each grantee met at the SeaTac Marriot for two days of information sharing and training.

Each of the organizations has a long-established service model and reputation for delivering on needed services. These CBOs had helped workers with claiming UI benefits during the COVID19 pandemic without any compensation for their efforts. They are now getting the grant money for this same help.

The nine CBOs provide services spread across the five ESD Regions and Workforce Area Councils, so the program has statewide reach. The program had an escalation protocol for problem claims. Efforts are focused on new claims (ICs) now. Planning calls for adding assistance with weekly or continued claims (CCs) in the future.

Each organization has defined outreach plans for in person, virtual, and representation at community events (at least a tabletop booth presence). The CBOs, besides their outreach efforts and natural client bases, now have fifty UI Ambassadors in place at ESD offices. Staff in the ESD offices can make warm handoff referrals to the CBOs for any range of services besides their assistance to individuals in applying for UI benefits.

Check out this resource for Veterans created by Paul Messet, a WorkSource Oregon Employment Department DVOP/LVER located in the Bend WorkSource Center. This video is the 7th in a series of 13 videos designed to assist Veterans to become work-ready.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGapH16HpIgbY-8NBBGjxet9AHVEtglhq

[TCP07] pulls back the curtain on the hidden job market and networking.

Survey Finds More High Schoolers Value On-The-Job Training More Than A College Degree

ABC

A new study has found more than 80 percent of high schoolers value on-the-job training over other postsecondary options, including a four-year degree — laying bare students’ interest in immediate employment and disdain for a college education. Read more...

Oregon Employment Officials Promise More Effective Service With Reduced Phone Line Hours

OPB

Agency officials say they are permanently reducing hours for customer service phone lines for unemployment insurance and Paid Leave Oregon. Read more...

House Passes Revamp to $3 Billion Workforce Development System

Bloomberg Law

The US House of Representatives approved bipartisan legislation to boost the nation’s job training system as lawmakers seek to tackle labor shortages and prepare for employment changes fueled by artificial intelligence. Read more...

New Bill Would Create Federal Grant Program For Digital Upskilling

Government Executive

The proposed Digital Skills for Today’s Workforce Act would add digital skills training to grant programs that provide education and professional development services in an effort to boost the talent pipeline. Read more...

Robots Step in Amid Rising Labor Costs and Worker Shortages

Governing

Manufacturing companies are frequently turning to robotics in response to labor shortages, increased strike risks and the need for flexibility with the transition to electric vehicles. Read more...

States Improve Unemployment Insurance Systems with Cloud Solutions

statetechmagazine.com

Anyone in Wyoming who’s applied for unemployment benefits is familiar with the state’s Department of Workforce Services. What they may not realize: The unemployment insurance system through which claims are filed does not run on infrastructure at DWS headquarters in Cheyenne but on an offsite Microsoft Azure Government data center. Read more...

Public-Sector Workforce Returns to Pre-Pandemic Levels, but Gaps Persist

Governing.com

After shedding nearly 1 million jobs, staffing levels are now higher than at the start of 2020. But severe shortages remain in several fields such as nursing, public safety and education. Read more...

Advancing Equity: The Case for Updating Apprenticeship Programs

CLASP

Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to update the National Apprenticeship System to align registered apprenticeships to the evolving needs of workers, employers, and the economy. Read more...

By Malcolm G. Boswell, Workforce Operations Analyst and Economist 1

There is a lot of hype surrounding AI and it’s moving from concept to implementation in most if not all industries. The expectation is that AI may cause many job losses, but the tech sector strongly believes that AI will replace those basic skilled jobs with AI tools and backfill lost jobs with higher skilled tech jobs with expectedly higher wages. The concern is the availability of talent with the necessary AI skills to fill those “emerging” jobs. This leads to many questions like: What does an AI occupation look like? What Skills will be integrated into existing occupations? Who will this impact? Who is training in these skills and how much will the training cost? Probably, the most important one is, what kinds of person will benefit the most with AI? Because not everyone is interested in tech heavy jobs! Microsoft offers in one of their newsletters a list of occupation categories they feel will be heavy users of AI systems and tools (see graph below). (Microsoft and LinkedIn 2024 Work Trend Index Annual Report, AI at Work is Here. Now Comes the Hard Part

What they do not say is what AI skills will be needed for those occupations, what percentage of the job functions will be AI related. This list of occupations is sorted by how difficult it is to fill positions in those fields. Which begs the question: Why? The answer may be found in students’ fear or distaste for STEM related classes, most fear the math component of these fields. AI is all about algorithms using mathematical formulas around probability and statistics that measure tendencies in the population, their tastes, opinions, spending habits, voting patterns and so much more! Those algorithms also develop predictions using forecasting models based on past and current trends. They apply various other formulas to solve problems and process massive amounts of data based on predetermined patterns and filters.

Many people prefer jobs where they control the process and outcome of their jobs directly, they like to be “hands on," building, constructing, and manufacturing things, designing from personal inspiration not predetermined models dictated by past artists methods and techniques. How will these folks find jobs in an ever-automated world? These are the concerns of many folks in the labor market.

But let’s look at some of the actual skills AI is said to require of the new workforce to be able to compete. And then consider who and how many people will be able to meet those skills?

Forbes states that there are three High Impact AI skills that will be in demand almost immediately. (Forbes Electronic Newsletter, Gaurav Tewari, 3 In-Demand AI Skills That Will Offer New Career Opportunities, September 6, 2022) The article starts by stating that the idea of countless job being lost is a misconception as AI will eliminate many of the “dull, repetitive tasks within those jobs allowing people to focus on higher impact work instead.” The repetitive and dull tasks will be replaced with these three key skills:

1) Training and Implementing AI systems: “Once AI systems have been implemented, leaders will require workers capable of building applications to augment business workflows. It will mean teaching the systems so workers can properly analyze data and recognize nuanced patterns. This can help properly skilled employees regularly update the systems and check for errors, bias, weak points or corruption.”

2) Integrating and Interpreting AI systems: “Workers will require the ability to integrate AI technologies into existing IT systems and business processes. They must also harness the contextual knowledge, judgment, and experience of the people in each department. The ability to analyze inputs and outputs will call for data science and data-driven capabilities.”

3) Managing AI systems: “Once AI has been successfully integrated, business leaders will need to reorganize human capital based on an accurate and informed understanding of AI’s capabilities. They will require cross-functional leadership, coordination, change management and the ability to manage AI systems in a way that complements what their employees already do. They will also need to ensure that AI systems across disparate business units are working in harmony to deliver desired results.”

________________________________________________________________________________________________

Task for the IAWP reader: How would you sell these skills to your clients? Where would you advise them to train for these skills, what do they mean in the context of Construction, Health Care, Hospitality and Manufacturing, etc.?

Despite all the hype around how AI is now being implemented or how 75 percent of the current workforce uses AI tools they bring to the workplace (no explanation of what those tools or systems are outside of the CHAT-GPT type systems online. To be fair, most employment services do use a very archaic form of AI in skills to jobs matching tools that uses an algorithm to figure what percent of your skills match the skills in a job listing. We also use resume evaluators that determine how closely a resume matches the skills needed in a job posting.

Management already uses a ton of tools that tracks trends in demand and supply of goods and services, measures productivity and output and more using legacy systems. AI simply magnifies the capabilities of those existing tools and is most beneficial for large corporations with extremely large data sets.

Task for the IAWP reader: How many small to midsize companies do you know of will maximize the use of AI given the amount of data they have or will need to function? How many can afford the new systems and the salaries of those who can run it for them? Will these companies prefer to outsource the services to a few large AI management companies like they do for payroll or marketing?

The intent of this article is to point out how little we really know about AI, the skills that will be incorporated into most people’s jobs (those not eliminated by AI) or to judge if AI is good or bad for the economy. It is to raise awareness to the fact that while AI systems may be ready for prime time, the question is, are businesses and workers ready for AI?

Carpe Datum

Malcolm.g.boswell@employ.oregon.gov

When my baseball coach would yell this after someone made a mental error, we players understood his meaning was; be aware, think logically, act

rationally. As a chiropractor, when I instruct my patients to “get your head on straight.” my meaning is – balance your head over the center of your body – and I usually do not yell this phrase or

cuss shortly after as did good old Coach McDaniels.

You can try a simple experiment to see if your head is on straight. The first step is to get a piece of string that is long enough to extend from the ceiling to an inch or two from the floor of your home. Next, find a small yet heavy object (a one[1]ounce fishing sinker is ideal) and tie it to one end of the string and then attach the other end to the ceiling allowing the weight you have attached to the bottom of the string to swing freely just above the floor. You have just assembled a gravitational line. Now stand alongside of the gravitational line so that your shoulder is equally divided into front and back by the line.

The ideal posture for your stance is an efficient balance in which that gravitational line aligns with the center of your ear opening, the center of your shoulder, the bump on the side of your hip, the center of the side of your knee, and the center of the bump on the outside of your ankle.

Have an observer note where the center of your ear is in relation to the line when your shoulder is centered by the line. Better yet, have them take a photo of you. If you are like most people, the center of your ear will be forward of the line which means you are holding your head forward and literally, your head is not on straight. The implications of this head-forward posture are many; fatigue, headache, arthritis of the spine to name a few. This posture has even been linked to a shortened lifespan. Head forward posture of just an inch puts a tremendous burden on the muscles of the neck and shoulders by effectively doubling the weight of your head that they must support.

The process of getting your head back on straight takes a bit of time and effort but can be achieved by a program of exercises that should begin very gradually. (If you have ever injured your neck or have experienced chronic neck pain, have numbness or pain in your arms or hands, consult your health care provider prior to starting this exercise.) The exercise is simply to tuck chin back while at the same time, lowering your shoulders. Hold that position until you feel your neck muscles fatigue then rest for a minute or two. Try doing as few as three of these chin tucks and gradually increase the number of repetitions.

Coach McDaniels was a great educator, and he always got his instructional point across with the use of tools like required push-ups and laps around the practice field if we made a mental error. All of us players ended each season with strong arms and legs with our heads on a little straighter.

• Australia is wider than the moon.

The International Association of Workforce Professionals (IAWP) is a pivotal resource for workforce professionals globally, offering an array of benefits that enhance career development and professional growth. Here are the key advantages of joining IAWP:

Educational Opportunities

• Online Learning: Access a wealth of online courses tailored to improve your skills and knowledge in workforce development.
• Webinars: Participate in regular webinars covering the latest trends and best practices in the industry.
• Certification: Achieve the Certified Workforce Professional (CWP) designation, a mark of excellence and expertise.

Professional Development

• Development Programs: Engage in comprehensive programs designed to elevate your career.
• Workforce Professional Development Program: Specifically crafted to boost your capabilities and effectiveness in your role.

Networking and Community

• Member Interest Groups: Connect with peers sharing similar interests and challenges.
• Global Network: Build relationships with professionals worldwide, exchanging insights and best practices.
• Conferences and Events: Attend events that provide invaluable opportunities for learning and networking.

Member Benefits

• Exclusive Access: Enjoy resources and tools available only to members.
• Leadership Opportunities: Take on roles that enhance your leadership skills and career trajectory.

Testimonials

Members highlight the transformative impact of IAWP on their careers, from gaining critical skills to establishing lasting professional connections.

Joining IAWP equips you with the tools, knowledge, and network needed to excel in the dynamic field of workforce development. Embrace the opportunity to grow professionally and personally with IAWP.

For more information, visit IAWP's official website.

click here for more info

Members have access to all past webinars to watch on-demand - CLICK HERE

__________________________________________________________________________________________

The International Association of Workforce Professionals (IAWP) is excited to announce the launch of its Mentoring Program. Click for more info

click to enlarge

"Beds are just wireless chargers for humans"

Requires: An interest to contribute. Knowledge of English, spelling, grammar and punctuation, journalistic writing and editing procedures.

Duties: Write articles and features based on research and interviews; conceive ideas for content; arrange for content from other sources; and select and edit photos and artwork to benefit the educational and professional interests of Oregon Chapter IAWP members.

Pay: The gratitude and admiration of your fellow Oregon Chapter IAWP members and the joy of seeing your name in print.

How to Apply: Submit articles or express interest by e-mail to Steve Strain at Steven.D.Strain@employ.oregon.gov

VOLUME 51, ISSUE 2

Editor - Steve Strain, steven.d.strain@employ.oregon.gov

CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE:

Ron Sohnrey

Steve Corwin

Malcolm Boswell

Paul Messert

Email: info@iawporegon.org

Website: http://iawporegon.org
Location: 2490 Fisher Rd NE, Salem, OR 97305

Published quarterly, the Oregonizer is the official newsletter of the Oregon Chapter International Association of Workforce Professionals (IAWP).