New North Inc: Unveils Talent Hub and IntelTracker workforce and economic data tools to assist employers, current and prospective employees

NEW NORTH, December 17, 2020 – A pair of dynamic, new workforce-related tools – the New North Talent Hub and the New North IntelTracker – have been created by New North Inc., the regional economic development corporation serving the 18 counties of Northeast Wisconsin. Both are operational and ready to assist current and prospective members of the workforce, employers in the region, area educators, government and economic-development organizations, and industry associations.

“We know that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy – nationwide, in Wisconsin, in the New North region and at the local level – is unprecedented,” says Barb LaMue, president and CEO of New North Inc. “We also know that jobs in some areas may never come back.  We are excited that both the Talent Hub and the IntelTracker serve employers and job seekers through awareness and facilitation of upskilling opportunities through training and education, along with available positions, and informing decision makers with data to identify appropriate strategies and industry trends.”

The New North Talent Hub is designed to meet the region’s current need for reskilling and retraining of a large portion of the workforce, facilitating moves into in-demand jobs. Workforce experts say that many of the positions lost in the service sector may not return for some time, if ever.

The Talent Hub addresses K-12 and higher education through Inspire and other career pathways initiatives. It also identifies work around Diversity & Inclusion to ensure that all have access to skills development opportunities, along with expanding resources to assist those who are incarcerated.

The ecosystem of the Talent Hub inventories, organizes and expands resources and programs within six strategy areas, as identified in a 2019 study done by ManpowerGroup: Retain and Train Talent; Industry Alliances; Attract Talent; In-Demand Careers; Data & Business Insights; and Cool & Innovative Ideas. These are organized into a navigable on-line portal.

The website can be found at www.NewNorthTalentHub.com.

The expected benefits of the Talent Hub include assistance in matching talent to existing positions or new career opportunities; helping employees to find appropriate training, education and/or upskilling programs; access to and awareness of Wisconsin DPI-endorsed career pathways and the required educational attainment; development of connections for students and adults to explore work-based learning opportunities; and the availability of data analytics to companies to see disruptions and to plan for the future more effectively.

The New North IntelTracker, integrated into the Talent Hub, is designed to complement its efforts, collecting and analyzing data and information for trends, disruptions and opportunities. The results are published on a public platform that provides a forward-looking, strategy-informing resource for businesses, government entities, educational institutions and non-profit organizations within the New North region.

While the data is available online, a semi-annual economic forecast presentation will be given in partnership with the Center for Business & Economic Analysis at St. Norbert College, the Wisconsin Department of Revenue and New North Inc. Presentations from the inaugural event, held Dec. 9, 2020, can be found at https://newnorthtalenthub.com/inteltracker/What-Is-Trending.

Among the regional data sets available on the IntelTracker are Vital Statistics, Regional Economy, Talent/Demographics, Hot Jobs, Technology/Automation/Digital Maturity, Education, Infrastructure, Manufacturing, Retail & Services, Livability, and Capital Investment. The next phase of the tool will be to bring together expert data analysts from across the region to develop regional forecasts.

In addition to data set tracking, the New North IntelTracker also provides New North Business Intelligence Panel members’ IntelBriefs into “What is Trending,” along with other useful articles and future-looking resources in this section of the site.

The New North IntelTracker can be found directly at www.NewNorthIntelTracker.com or through the Talent Hub website via www.newnorthtalenthub.com/inteltracker.

“The ultimate goal of the New North IntelTracker is to assist companies and other organizations within the region to remain competitive globally through digital transformation as we transition out of the COVID-19 economic shutdown,” adds LaMue.

Funding support for the New North Talent Hub was provided in part by the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) and Thrivent.

Skyline Technologies built the websites of both the Talent Hub and the IntelTracker.