Understanding the market:Using LMI
Hilary Stevens, ResearcherMarchmont Observatory
www.marchmont.ac.uk
Marchmont Observatory
What is Labour Market Information?
“LMI is any quantitative or qualitative facts, analysis or interpretation about the past, present or future structure and workings of the labour market and the factors that influence it.”Source: The Scottish Government
LMI includes both labour market information (descriptive data such as statistics or survey results) and labour market intelligence (analysis, interpretation, conclusions and policy recommendations).
Topics include:
• economic and labour market conditions;
• education, qualifications, training and skills;
• current and future demand and supply of labour and jobs; and
• vacancies and recruitment.
Sources of LMI• “Intelligent Networking” - obtained directly from
employers• Official statistics - Surveys undertaken by the Office for
National Statistics or administrative data from Government departments (e.g. Jobcentre Plus)
• Other surveys or administrative sources – e.g. policy or academic research, client information
• Projections and forecasting – e.g. “Working Futures”• Other research and evaluation reports• Policy and strategy documents
Using LMI in employer engagement
• Understanding the business or organisation
• ‘Speaking the same language’
• Building credibility and trust
• Clear idea about what the institution can do to help and the benefits
Other uses for LMI
Employer engagement• Aid benchmarking• Monitor and evaluate
employer engagement strategies
• Demonstrating justification for bids for external funding
Other uses:• Aid strategic planning
processes and decisions• Informing operational and
business planning• Inform and evaluate new
initiatives• Inform provision of careers
advice to students• Aid strategic marketing and
promotion and targeting of services
Challenges of using LMI
• Sharing information from “Intelligent Networking”
• Short shelf-life and fast moving agendas
• Validity and reliability of survey data
• Accessing information• Capacity and capability to
create intelligence• Generalisability of broad
trends for employers
Project Resources• LMI and Employer Engagement Report• Template for gathering information
from employers• Guidance on developing and using
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems
• Guidance on using LMI to support employer engagement
• LMI Handbook