The FINANCIAL — While most government labor agency leaders report their organizations have systems in place to measure the success of programs to help the unemployed find jobs. Yet nearly one-third say that those systems are ineffective, according to an Accenture survey of labor-agency leaders in the United States, Europe and Asia.
Among the 80 percent of labor agency leaders who said they have a system to measure the success or impact of jobs programs, 29 percent rated their measurement system as “not very effective” or “not at all effective.” Overall, 54 percent said their agency or department does not have what it needs in terms of tools, training and resources to measure program success effectively.
Analytics are seen as playing an important role in measuring the success of jobs programs, with nearly all respondents – 96 percent – identifying analytics as an important means of measuring program success. More than three-quarters of respondents (84 percent) said their agency currently uses some analytics to measure their programs’ success, with the most common uses being for measuring the impact or success of programs linking job seekers and potential employers (cited by 81 percent), training programs (64 percent) and income-support programs (60 percent).
Of the labor agencies using analytics, nearly half – 49 percent – say their organization does not have the right resources in place to use analytics effectively. When asked what resources they need to improve their use of analytics, the resources cited most often were more employees with analytics skills (cited by 78 percent of respondents), better data (68 percent) and better technology (61 percent).
“A top challenge for labor-agency managers, especially as data and technology capabilities continue to expand rapidly, is to cultivate the right skills and invest carefully to better measure the success of their jobs programs,” said Rainer Binder, managing director of Accenture’s global employment practice. “While most labor agencies currently use some analytics to gauge program success, there’s great potential to use analytics more effectively and in a more forward-looking way, which will enable them to improve the effectiveness of jobs programs going forward.”
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