Governing for Results 13 - Washington State Digital Archives

Employment Security Department
Electronic Occupation and Wage Data Sharing
Several community and technical colleges were having trouble filling out the
Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) survey form. Many survey forms
were not being completed or returned. The processes for collecting and
completing the forms were burdensome and time consuming—an estimated 16
hours per form. A team was created to improve the process. They reviewed
data already collected by the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges
(SBCTC) to determine if it included information sought by the OES survey. It
was determined that additional data was necessary to identify occupations and
that other data was needed to link to the original file by using common fields.
Now the OES survey forms are no longer sent out to Community and Technical
Colleges. Employment Security Department ‘s (ESD) Labor Market Information
Unit receives information in a database format, then adds occupational and wage
codes to each. The data is also available earlier in the year, which gives the
team more time to process it.
Results
★ Saved ESD 20 FTE hours by eliminating the need to contact colleges to
request responses to survey, clarification, or additional information.
★ Increases the reliability of the estimates by gaining 2,400 additional
occupations and wages each year.
★ Eliminated duplication of effort and streamlined the workload without
compromising confidentiality.
★ Enhanced the partnership with the colleges by providing better data and
eliminating unnecessary work.
★ Increased the capacity to provide more and better occupational and wage
data to ESD customers.
Team Name: Data Sharing Team
Team Members: ESD: Charlie Saibel, Bob Dellwo, Ted Halstead, Beverly
Batson, Dick Armstrong, Michael Paris, Jim Salomon; SBCTC: Carmen Grose,
Terry Wheeler, John Boesenberg
CONTACT: Charlie Saibel, (360) 438-4802
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