Short, strong, with the sweet aftertaste of a data-informed insight: that is GrayData: Espresso,
our new blog. It will focus on brief, bi-weekly, data-informed posts on trends in student demand and employer needs. Longer-form discussions of trends and insights will continue to be shared on our Gray Reports’ Monthly Webinar.
For the next few months, Espresso will focus on the recent upheaval in employment and its impact on job postings. In this environment, traditional sources of labor data, such as state and federal employment data are of little help; they usually update annually, which means their most recent data is from the pre-COVID era and sheds only a glimmer of light on current employment trends. To provide current information, this blog will use Gray’s job postings dataset, which updates monthly, to provide you insights on trends in skills requirements and employment. We have already begun publishing short articles on these trends:
- Nursing: Nursing Job Posting Decline
- Remote Work: Not Remotely What You Would Think
- Internships: Internship Opportunities in a Steep Decline
Later on, Espresso will begin to include articles from other GrayData sources on employment and student demand:
- GrayData: Employment data and applications include the job postings mentioned above, as well as searchable information on skill requirements, BLS employment and wages, the American Community Survey data on careers and wages by undergraduate major, and estimates of job-market saturation, such as completions per job opening.
- GrayData: Student Demand data and applications track IPEDS completions as a measure of student demand, while quite comprehensive, it is also old data (2019 is the most recent year available). Fortunately, GrayData also has monthly updates on Google search volumes by program and inquiries by program, both of which are available at the national, state, and local level. In addition, we track searches for higher-education brands.
- GrayData: International, this application tracks international demand for U.S. programs. We report on pageviews by country of origin and academic discipline for foreign students seeking education in the U.S. This data is updated monthly.
All of this information is curated and integrated into our Program Evaluation System Plus (PES+), which helps colleges and universities make program decisions. It is also used in our Market Analysis Platform (MAP), which colleges use to geo-target their marketing and improve the ROI on their marketing spending.
GrayData: Espresso will press all of this information into small cups of insight for you. We look forward to sharing this data and seeing your comments. To register to receive updates click here GrayData: Espresso.
