Labour Market Information versus Labour Market Intelligence

In the context of LMI for information, advice and guidance (IAG), a distinction has been made between labour market information and labour market intelligence, where labour market information refers to quantitative or qualitative data found in original sources such as tables, spreadsheets, graphs and charts, and labour market intelligence relates to an interpretation of labour market information, referring to subsets of information that have been subjected to further analysis³.

To give an example, labour market information about the construction sector suggests that it is overwhelmingly male dominated with 90% male – even higher if you look only at the traditional manual trades within it)- compared to 54% of the total workforce, and overwhelmingly white, some 98%. This information gives a particular image of the industry that could be off-putting to potential recruits from non-traditional entrants. Such a picture might compound this industry’s gender inequality. However, the labour market intelligence relating to the industry gives a very different picture.

According to CITB Construction Skills the sector skills council for the construction industry, the sector needs to recruit and retain over 88,000 trained people each year for the next five years. The industry will therefore have to recruit from non traditional groups with women and ethnic minority expected to account for half its growth in the workforce over the next ten years. The majority of these new recruits will replace workers who are retiring. Thus the intelligence suggests a quite different sector. Acutely aware of pending skills shortages the construction industry has many initiatives aimed at attracting non-traditional entrants, and it is reasonable to suppose that that workforce of the future will look very different than the workforce does today.

Construction Sector LMI in NGRF Future-Trends

If you are particularly interested in the construction sector, have a look at the LMI on this industry within the NGRF website.

Of course, there are questions and challenges for practitioners in relation to this example:

How do advisers communicate information and intelligence of this type to equip non-traditional entrants with the skills and support they may need if they are entering industries where them may be part of a very visible minority?

Interactive and non-interactive LMI

A further distinction is made between LMI for guidance that is non-interactive and interactive⁴. Non-interactive LMI is generally linear in nature, is paper-based, often broader in range and more detailed in topic coverage. Its use is limited, however, for motivating further exploratory behaviour in users. Interactive LMI (using ICT) is generally non-linear, with the user maintaining some control over the selection and sequencing of information. Whilst it is typically less detailed in topic coverage, it increases motivation for career exploration.

Footnotes

• ¹ Offer, M. (2003) Labour Market Information on Careers Service Web Sites in Higher Education, Cambridge: NICEC
• ² Since course information is part of the mechanism that matches people to jobs, for the purposes of this position paper, no separate distinction will be made.
• ³ LSC & DfES (2004) LMI Matters! Understanding Labour Market Information, Nottingham: DfES
• ⁴ Leitch, S. (2005) Skills in the UK: the long-term challenge, London: HM Treasury. Available [Online].