Part of the explanation for the extent of faculty-labor market connectivity is due to college location and characteristics of the local labor market. In our survey analyses we were only able to capture such conditions very crudely--for example, by urbanicity and region--so the importance of location is subsumed into other factors. Further, the survey instrument asked only about one school year, not about changes over time in the college or its environment. However, our case studies suggested the importance of a number of different aspects of locale.
First, respondents pointed out that when the local economy is weak, the colleges have a difficult time building connections with the labor market because employers are not doing much recruiting and therefore have little motivation to interact with the college. In addition, the employers have less money to contract with the college for training programs and courses; they have less time to spare for activities such as advisory committee meetings; and they turn over equipment less often, leaving the college with less opportunity to obtain "hand-me-down" equipment for instructional purposes. Also, there are fewer employers within the college's service area, which de facto limits opportunities to build linkages and also increases competition among educators (e.g., private proprietary schools and community colleges) to serve as the "pipeline" to those employers that remain.
Second, community colleges in rural areas or areas dominated by a single industry or employer have fewer opportunities to build linkages. Although in most cases faculty focus their efforts to connect with community on the local service area, in some locations students may need to search for work well beyond the service area.
Third, linkages are difficult to forge and sustain in regions with a rapidly shifting, unstable, or highly diversified labor market. For example, one of the four colleges we visited is located in an area dominated by small businesses, many of which have short life spans. Faculty here stated that they were unable to keep up-to-date on local employers in their fields of specialization without investing considerable time and resources. Even in schools that are located in more stable regions, certain fields such as photography, child care, or tool and die tend to be dominated by small employers that may come in and out of business in relatively brief periods of time. Although collectively, such employers may represent a substantial job market, the task of building lasting and useful linkages is daunting, since any single business may not hire often and may fold, merge, change locations, and so forth within the space of a few years.
Fourth, linkages between vocational faculty and local labor markets are affected by the community image of the college. One of the colleges we visited was perceived (erroneously) as largely a transfer-oriented institution; another was described as "the best kept secret" in its community. Lack of community awareness or distortions in the image of the institution posed obstacles to faculty efforts to build connections.