NASWA Awarded Grant for National Labor Exchange Research Hub Enhancements

WASHINGTON – The National Association of State Workforce Agencies’ (NASWA) Center for Employment Security and Employment Research has been awarded new funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to improve the infrastructure, capacity, and reach of the National Labor Exchange (NLx) Research Hub.

With this additional funding, NASWA will work with states, researchers, and other public stakeholders to develop robust tools using NLx data in support of our nation’s dynamic workforce.

This project will build upon previous work and utilize existing resources to:

• Enhance the technical infrastructure of the NLx Research Hub — improving user accessibility, analytical capabilities, public-facing real-time labor market information (RTLMI) insights and exploring interoperability with other data systems.
• Design an open-source interface that would allow users to query NLx data and linked datasets — generating novel insights and data products that help jobseekers and learners better connect to good jobs and education programs.
• Foster collaboration with users, develop educational resources for users, and enable access to derived data products — making the NLx Research Hub a premiere source and destination for publicly available RTLMI.

The NLx Research Hub launched in 2021 to increase the amount of actionable labor market information available in the U.S. and to deepen partnerships between industry, government, and academia around convergent research in this space.

“Thanks to this new investment, we are excited to expand the NLx Research Hub,” NASWA President & CEO Scott B. Sanders said. “Access to reliable labor market information is greatly needed. Stakeholders from state workforce agencies, educational institutions, nonprofit research groups and others across the country will be able to access data from the NLx Research Hub and use it to improve connections between jobseekers, employers, and policymakers.”

The NLx is the only nonprofit national labor exchange system in the United States— providing the most accurate and comprehensive collection of real, online job openings for state workforce agencies, employers, and jobseekers. The vision of the NLx is to offer the nation an accurate understanding of the current labor market and improve labor exchange efficiency to better serve the country’s diverse workforce. The NLx leverages its technology, data, and syndicated networks to connect government agencies, nonprofit and veteran organizations as well as disability and diversity partners while assisting recruitment and economic opportunity efforts. All 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories participate in the NLx.

For more information on the NLx Research Hub, visit nlxresearchhub.org.