Directorates
·	Director General's Office
·	Data Development
·	Strategic Evaluations
·	Partnership and Continuous Evaluations
Publications
·	Evaluation Reports
·	Evaluation Briefs
·	Labour Market Development Agreement Series
·	Lessons Learned Series
·	Evaluation Tool Kit Series
·	Evaluation Forum Newsletter
·	From Theory To Practice

• The LMI Strategic Initiative
• Evaluation Purpose and Approach
• Evaluation Findings
• Overall Conclusions

The LMI Strategic Initiative

In August 1995, the Province of British Columbia and the Federal Government entered into the Labour Market Strategic Initiatives Agreement to test approaches to social security reform in British Columbia in the areas of employment, learning and education, income security and services, as part of the Strategic Initiatives Program.

The Labour Market Information (LMI)Strategic Initiative was one of the joint initiatives carried out by the governments of Canada and British Columbia under the Labour Market Strategic Initiatives Agreement.The objective of the LMI Strategic Initiative was: "to answer the need for the development, production and distribution of high quality job and career related labour market information and, particularly, its integration into career counselling in secondary and post-secondary educational settings, in order to support the school-to-work transition," (Cooperation Agreement Concerning the Labour Market Components of the Canada/British Columbia Strategic Initiatives, Schedule C, 1995). The Initiative addressed this objective by focussing on the development and dissemination of LMI resources for career development purposes, with career practitioners as the primary audience.

Overall direction for the Initiative was provided by the Joint Committee for Enhanced LMI,which consisted of federal and provincial personnel who collect, disseminate or use LMI, as well as career practitioners from the field. The federal-provincial co-chairs of the Joint Committee made the final funding decisions and sub-committees oversaw planning in each of five activity areas:

• Research and data development: to develop new sources of labour market data for use in career-related labour market information products and services;
• New and enhanced information products: to produce and distribute new career related labour market information products,using existing or new sources of labour market information;
• Community based information partnerships: to pilot test selected community-based projects,in collaboration with community or sectoral agencies;
• Implementation of new technologies: to test the relative merits of alternative delivery mechanisms and technologies for the dissemination of labour market information in schools,community agencies,homes and government offices;and
• Quality standards and training: research to develop standards for training of career practitioners and quality standards (currency,accuracy,etc.) for the development of labour market information, as well as pilot testing training approaches and strategies for delivering training.

The governments of Canada and British Columbia provided contribution funding of approximately $8,210,000 for the Labour Market Information Strategic Initiative for the period from 1995/96 to 1998/99. About 100 projects were funded by the LMI Strategic Initiative. These projects resulted in:

• the production and distribution of 26 LMI print resources, including updating and reprinting four of the print resources;
• the development and distribution of six facilitator’s guides and lesson plans;
• the on-line mounting of 31 resources;
• the creation or support for the development of 12 websites, including BC WorkInfoNet;
• the creation of five CD ROMs for various audiences; the development and distribution of seven resource guides, annotated listings and inventories;
• the production of 17 research papers, models and databases; and
• the delivery of 32 public forums, workshops and training sessions throughout the province, including 22 Community Based LMI Seminars in the spring of 1998.

Evaluation Purpose and Approach

The summative evaluation of the LMI Strategic Initiative was conducted to assess the impacts and effects of the Initiative and to determine whether it had achieved its objectives.

Since the focus of the Initiative was on addressing the needs of career practitioners, the views of career practitioners were a major focus for the evaluation. The primary data collection component entailed a combination of faxed surveys and telephone interviews of 150 people, including career practitioners who provide assistance to individuals doing career planning, and analysts and program planners who are involved in the collection, dissemination and/or use of labour market information for planning of employment, and education programs. Career practitioners included: career planning teachers in secondary schools, post-secondary counsellors, career practitioners on contract to either the federal and provincial governments, and provincial and federal employees who work in the field providing services to government clients.

A second component was a survey of end-users, including secondary students, income assistance and employment insurance recipients doing career planning with a federal or provincial contractor,and post-secondary students. In addition, case studies were conducted of 15 projects carried out through the LMI Strategic Initiative.

Evaluation Findings

The LMI Strategic Initiative resulted in the creation and dissemination of a wealth of LMI resources, in both print and electronic form.To encourage the effective use of these resources, it developed facilitator’s guides and provided workshops and training on the use of a number of LMI resources.To improve the capacity for the collection of local or sector LMI,and the development and dissemination of LMI resources, it funded a number of pilot projects in communities throughout BC,that resulted in other resources.

The Initiative made LMI resources available to their intended audiences by wide-spread distribution of free print copies, and by creating internet or CD ROM versions of a number of resources. In addition,the Initiative established the BC WorkInfoNet website, which provides links to a wide range of LMI resources, including ones created by the Initiative as well as many others.

The evaluation found that awareness of LMI and its uses was good and has been growing. The intended audiences for the resources produced by the Initiative were, to a considerable extent, getting and using the resources intended for them, although the use of specific resources varied depending on the resource and the audience. The biggest users of LMI resources were career practitioners who work directly with clients, particularly government contractors. The range of resources developed by the Initiative met the needs of a diverse range of intended users. The needs of end users, however, were not met to the same degree as were the needs of career practitioners, analysts and planners. This difference perhaps reflects the fact that career practitioners were the primary audience for the activities of the Initiative, not end users.

Among all the activities of the Initiative, and all the products and resources created, four stood out as key resources because they addressed the needs of a broad range of users: Work Futures, the BC WorkInfoNet website, Making Career Sense of Labour Market Information and A Guide to the BC Economy and Labour Market.

As a Strategic Initiatives Program, the LMI Strategic Initiative was to test and evaluate innovative and cost effective ways of addressing its objectives to learn what works and what doesn’t. A wealth of lessons about collecting LMI, and producing and disseminating LMI resources were learned from the activities of the Initiative and were captured in the evaluation.

One of the key lessons of the Initiative as a whole was the value of working in partnership. The value of partnerships was frequently mentioned by respondents when citing benefits of the Initiative, or lessons learned from carrying out individual projects. The LMI Strategic Initiative itself was a federal provincial partnership. The implementation of the Initiative took the partnership concept further by setting up its activities and delivery processes to involve those who collect and/or disseminate LMI, as well as career practitioners, the primary audience for the resources produced by the Initiative. A number of different benefits of working in partnership were identified by respondents, including:

• improved nderstanding of the needs of users;
• more cost effective approaches to addressing needs;
• reduced overlap or duplication with other projects;
• sharing of resources, either in-kind, or financial;
• sharing of knowledge about collecting, producing and disseminating labour market information; and
• creation of more user-friendly LMI resources.

Another benefit is that working in partnership is one way that lessons learned from other projects can be shared with other collectors, producers or disseminators of labour market information. Another lesson about partnerships is the amount that can be achieved with a relatively small amount of funding through the cooperation and dedication of those involved. None the less, some funding is needed for partnerships to happen. Partnerships exist to achieve some end and money is needed to do this. Initiative funding ended with the completion of the LMI Strategic Initiative. Money for carrying out LMI projects has been greatly reduced, as ongoing work in this area is funded either out of operating budgets or through new funding sources. With the reduction in funding has been a concomitant reduction in the amount of partnering occurring in this area.

Overall Conclusions

At the end of the Initiative there were more and better quality LMI resources than when the Initiative began. Many of these resources were the work of the Initiative, in whole or in part. Because of the increasing concern with labour market issues,some of the activity of the Initiative,and the resulting LMI resources, may have occurred even without the Initiative. The Initiative did, however, provide a forum for this activity, and for partners to work together to address the need for better LMI for career planning purposes. The Initiative also provided funding that made it possible to significantly increase the level of activity in this area compared to what had happened before the Initiative.

By partnering with, and involving, career practitioners and program planners in its activities, the Initiative was responsive to the LMI needs of a broad audience. By increasing the number of relevant LMI resources for career planning, and by increasing awareness and understanding of the value of using labour market information, the Initiative contributed to increasing the integration of labour market information into career planning and decision making.

The principal benefits of the LMI Strategic Initiative are LMI resources that meet the needs of a diverse range of users and effective partnerships for the development and dissemination of LMI resources. LMI needs are ongoing, but the shelf life of LMI resources is not. Work on updating resources and developing new resources will have to continue if the needs of users are to continue to be met. Whether the significant achievements of the LMI Strategic Initiative will endure depends on the availability of government funding to continue this work.