Oregon's QualityInfo.org Subscription Service

Oregon Data Insights and Innovations Award Nomination: QualityInfo.org Subscription Service

Contact Information of Individual Submitting Nomination

Nominator: Kay Erickson

Agency Name: Oregon Employment Department

Oregon's QualityInfo.org Subscription Service

Several years ago, the Oregon Employment Department's Workforce and Economic Research Division eliminated almost all hard copy publications. In their place, we developed a self-service subscription service. The service allows subscribers to receive electronic links to labor market information articles and reports on workforce and industry trends; employment and unemployment; wages and income; training and education; and jobs and careers. These topics align with our QualityInfo.org website content. Subscribers can choose to receive state level or regional content daily, weekly, or monthly.

Statement of results, accomplishments, impacts and any other appropriate information that demonstrates why the nominee's efforts were an exceptional contribution.

Workforce partners, legislators, the media, a variety of customers and stakeholders, and the general public have subscribed to this service. As of January 2019, 2,598 subscribers received in total 536,404 links to content sharing our labor market information even further to those that desire and need the data. Policy makers and the media are now able to obtain valued labor market information earlier in the information dissemination and consumption cycle. This allows our research efforts to be consumed and applied in a more immediate and impactful fashion. We have observed that this effort often fuels content for media outlets and provides more timely and quality data that better informs policymakers.

The benefits of developing and implementing this tool and associated facts are:

Eliminates the need for hard copy publications and automates the sharing of links to articles and publications directly to customers email inbox.
Increases efficiency in distribution of Oregon Labor Market Information (LMI) using a combination of "pull and push" dissemination strategies.
Creates the mechanism for planners to monitor and track engagement of Oregon LMI content and provides strategic data for future development and planning of LMI products.
There are up to 151 different items that a subscriber can sign up to receive information about, allowing the subscriber to customize specific content according to their needs.
All combined the 2,598 subscribers have selected to receive 87,493 items or on average 33 items per subscriber. In 2016 the system sent out 319,901 links to content on QualityInfo.org. In 2017 it sent out 393,012 links, and in 2018 it sent out 536,404 links.
On average, the system sends out 34,703 links a month.
We track click backs to the site from the emails and record on average 2,833 click backs to the site each month. The tools click back rate outperforms averages for government email marketing producing 125% more click backs than industry standards.
The system's email includes a chart of the month, from our fast facts dashboard, delivering instant LMI to our customers.
See the attached Excel file for a count of links sent out by the service for publications in 2018. (column F) The system is the sole source for local press releases from the Workforce and Economic Research Division, sending 284,021 links in 2018.
Lastly, within the "Announcements Section" of the email correspondence the tool can highlight events, special reports and products for our customers throughout the year.

Other significant contributions

Capacity building: The subscription service is a primary communication channel that delivers – at their chosen frequency and customized content – relevant and customized labor market information to its subscribers. This information is frequently shared throughout the network of workforce and related organizations that can apply it to their individual programs and policy planning efforts. We have also observed that media outlets use this tool to populate and build upon their own research, publications, and other reporting related contributions.