Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corp. (LVEDC) demonstrated its newly developed Hot Careers Dashboard to an audience of data experts at the Pennsylvania State Data Center’s 2024 Data User Conference.
The annual conference, held May 29 and 30 in State College, serves as the state’s most comprehensive forum for research and development in demographic data. 
Frank Alvarado, LVEDC’s Director of Research & Data Management who masterminded the project, explained why LVEDC created the interactive Hot Careers Dashboard; how it pulls relevant data from a variety of public sources; and how the resource is being used in the Lehigh Valley and beyond.
“It was an honor to be invited to participate in the 2024 Data User Conference and share how LVEDC’s research can be used by other communities to help people explore potential career pathways,” Alvarado said.
“The conference always presents practical and useful information and is a valuable networking opportunity. The lessons learned at this year’s conference will help LVEDC to make our data program even more robust,” he said.
The Lehigh Valley Hot Careers Dashboard, which debuted in late 2023, is part of LVEDC’s award-winning talent development, attraction, and retention strategies. It was created with input from Lehigh Valley employers and educators.
The Hot Careers Dashboard is an interactive, digital resource to help students and job seekers explore career opportunities. It can be used to explore jobs, industries, wages, educational programs, and more to shape careers.
Anywhere on the dashboard that an occupation is listed, users can click in and learn more about it through the accompanying links that provide data such as average annual wages; education requirements and Lehigh Valley education institutions that offer that curriculum; and job posting counts.
The dashboard is a companion to the Lehigh Valley Hot Careers Guide, a printed publication distributed annually to more than 60,000 middle and high school students across the Lehigh Valley
The dashboard was created to package that material in an even more accessible and appealing interactive format for students and job seekers who prefer to access such information electronically.
LVEDC has created a tutorial video explaining how to use the Hot Careers Dashboard. View it here.
At the Data User Conference, Alvarado presented the resource to an engaged audience of about 60 people representing various organizations across Pennsylvania.
Other presenters at this year’s Data User Conference shared information about how they are using and analyzing data in legal, health care, education, government, and other settings.
The Pennsylvania State Data Center serves as Pennsylvania’s official source of population and economic statistics and is the state’s liaison to the U.S. Census Bureau. Each year, it answers more than 15,000 requests for information from businesses, nonprofit organizations, government agencies, and individuals.