On September 10, 2026, the Orange County Regional Consortium (OCRC) hosted a virtual Labor Market Information (LMI) session presented by the Orange County Center of Excellence for Labor Market Research (OC COE), for Orange County K-12 partners preparing applications for the 2026–27 K-12 Strong Workforce Program (K12 SWP), Round 9. The session marked the first time Research Coordinator Anna-Lena Dicke presented as part of the OC COE team, joined by Research Analysts Diego Mosquera and Ashlie Garcia. OC COE Director Dr. Jesse Crete opened the session by introducing the team and providing chat support throughout.

The team walked K-12 applicants through Orange County’s economic profile and cost-of-living pressures — a $348 billion Gross Regional Product larger than 26 states, alongside a $36.53/hour MIT living wage that has climbed 54% since 2023 — before turning to the methodology and findings behind the 2026 Orange County Labor Market Overview (LMO). Attendees saw how OC COE’s eight-criteria framework narrowed nearly 800 regional occupations down to 243 qualifying occupations, and how a regional labor gap of more than 52,000 annual positions breaks down by sector, with health, business, and education showing some of the widest gaps between demand and community college-aligned supply.

The session also covered OC COE’s broader library of resources: recently published and upcoming reports — including sector profiles for each of the CCCCO’s 12 industry sectors, an apprenticeship opportunities report, and an equity gaps report, with an emerging technology series on the way — along with a walkthrough of three of the COE’s interactive Lookup dashboards (Occupational Demand, Projected Postsecondary Supply, and Occupational Characteristics in California) as well as related state and system-level tools, including the EDD California Workforce Supply & Demand Dashboard, O*NET, and CCC DataVista.

The session was designed to help K-12 applicants ground their SWP proposals in current regional data. As outlined in Orange County application guidance sent to applicants, the 2026 OC LMO is the primary required LMI source for K12 SWP applications — covering sector demand versus supply and the region’s “best-of-the-best” occupations which are intended to directly inform each proposal’s Problem Statement and Program Objectives. These resources extend well beyond the K12 SWP application — they can be drawn upon to document workforce need across a wide range of grant and funding opportunities.

The 2026 Orange County Labor Market Overview, along with related OC COE reports and data tools, is available here.