(a) "Labor market area" means an economically integrated geographic area within which individuals can reside and find employment within a reasonable distance or can readily change employment without changing their place of residence. Such areas shall be identified in accordance with criteria used by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States Department of Labor in defining such areas or similar criteria established by the Director of the Employment Department. The boundaries depend primarily on economic and geographic factors. The State of Oregon is divided into labor market areas, including local workforce areas, which usually include a county or group of contiguous counties.
(b) "Workforce and labor market information" means the body of information generated from measurement and evaluation of the socioeconomic factors and variables influencing the employment process in the state and specific labor market areas. These socioeconomic factors and variables include:
(A) Labor force information, which includes but is not limited to employment, unemployment, labor force participation and characteristics of the population and labor force;
(B) Occupational information, which includes but is not limited to occupational supply and demand estimates and projections, characteristics of occupations, skill requirements, wage levels, job duties, training and education requirements, conditions of employment, unionization, retirement practices and training opportunities;
(C) Economic information, which includes but is not limited to number of business starts and stops by industry and labor market area, information on employment growth and decline by industry and labor market area, employment projections by industry, employer establishment data and number of union disputes and strikes by industry and labor market area; and
(D) Program information, which includes but is not limited to program participant or student information gathered in cooperation with other state and local agencies along with related labor market information to evaluate the effectiveness, efficiency and impact of state and local employment, training, education and job creation efforts in support of planning, management, implementation and evaluation.
(2) The Director of the Employment Department shall have the following duties:
(a) Overseeing, operating and managing a statewide comprehensive workforce and labor market information system.
(b) Supporting Oregon’s state and local workforce boards by providing foundational workforce data and special studies in support of state and local employment, training, education and job creation programs, especially activities that prevent job loss, reduce unemployment and create jobs.
(c) Supporting other Oregon customers of workforce and labor market information, including, but not limited to, businesses, job seekers, policy makers, educational agencies and students, and providing foundational workforce data and analysis of trends at the state and local levels.
(d) Coordinating with state workforce agencies and other federal, state and local government partners to improve workforce and labor market information products and services.
(e) Producing workforce and labor market information and economic analysis needed to facilitate the efficient and effective matching of the supply and demand of labor critical to an effective labor exchange in Oregon.
(f) Administering other appropriate workforce and labor market information activities including support of efforts by local workforce development boards, as defined in ORS 660.300, to align economic development, education and training with workforce development investments and services for job seekers and businesses to efficiently address local labor market needs and statewide workforce development priorities.
(3) To implement this section, the director shall have authority to:
(a) Establish rules and procedures to recover reasonable costs incurred in producing and providing:
(A) Workforce and labor market information products developed by the Employment Department in the ordinary course of business when the request results in costs over and above the ordinary costs of production including, but not limited to, special publication runs, photocopying or supplying the copy in some other medium; and
(B) Special workforce and labor market information products in response to individual requests that incur costs beyond the ordinary costs of doing business including, but not limited to, computer time, staff costs, preparation and distribution of surveys, electronic scanning, and special data collection, formatting and analysis. The director may enter into agreements with other public agencies to provide special workforce and labor market information products in a quid pro quo arrangement.
(b) Receive federal set aside funds from federal programs that are authorized to fund state and local workforce and labor market information and are required to use such information in support of their programs.
(c) Enter into agreements for statistical analysis, research or evaluation studies of privately and publicly funded employment, training, education and economic development programs.
(4) Home care workers and personal support workers described in ORS 410.619 (1) are not employees of state government for the purposes of workforce and labor market information. [1993 c.38 §2; 1997 c.652 §38; 2014 c.49 §8; 2017 c.185 §20; 2017 c.297 §40; 2017 c.307 §3a; 2018 c.75 §30]