- September 20, 2023
LMI – get the edge
Welcome to my blog spot! I’m Vic Geary RCDP and I’m a qualified and Registered Career Development Professional, and part of the Future First team.
My aim with this blog, is to focus on the use of LMI (labour market information) to make the links between the work you’re doing as Careers Leads, Careers Advisors, Teachers and other school and college staff with Future First and your wider careers programme. Whether you are working towards hitting the 8 Gatsby Benchmarks or the four purposes of the Curriculum for Wales, I’m hoping to give you some useful links and ‘nuggets’ of labour market information that you can use either with students, staff or as part of your own continuing professional development in this area. If you’re a member of the CDI (Career Development Institute) then reading and reflecting on this blog can even count towards your required hours of CPD for the year!
In this blog I want to elaborate a little more on what labour market information (LMI) is, why it’s important, where you can find it and how you can use it and share an example of LMI from a reliable source for you to take and use.
What is LMI?
- Information about sectors and businesses trading in a given area
- Details about the jobs that exist, what they evolve, pay and conditions
- The skills required for jobs now including current skills shortages
- Future predictions on growth sectors, skill gaps and new jobs
Why is LMI important to me, my students and my careers programme?
- LMI contextualises career advice e.g., a student may be perfectly suited to a career as a Town Crier but there really aren’t many job openings any more
- You don’t know what you don’t know. LMI opens your eyes to opportunities that you can then share with your students and other staff;
- LMI gives you the information needed to equip your students with the skills they’ll need;
- Learning from LMI is Gatsby Benchmark 2 so evidencing that your students have had the opportunity to do this is vital for a successful and compliant careers programme;
- Creating “Ethical and Informed Citizens” is one of the four purposes of the Curriculum for Wales and using LMI will assist you in achieving this.
How can I use LMI?
- Posters linking subject areas to jobs such as these from CK Careers
- Embedding the LMI for All widget into your VLE or website
- CPD sessions for school and college staff
- Using Job Profiles in 1:1 or group careers sessions with students
- In conversations with students or staff once you have done some research yourself
Where can I find reliable LMI?
IMPORTANT
- LMI is all around us but it’s vital to be discerning in what you share so check your sources;
- Bear in mind the effect of the pandemic so anything pre-2020 needs to be used with caution
Example: banking and finance sector
Here’s an example of some LMI related to the Banking and Finance sector, an infographic taken from the World Economic Forum Future of Jobs Report 2023. This suggests that a student interested in the Banking and Finance sector should be thinking more about Fintech and less about working in a local branch of a bank as Fintech is amongst the fastest growing jobs while Bank Tellers are the fastest declining job. Download the full WEC report here for loads of LMI you can rely on:
Want to know more?
I’d love to hear from you to understand what other topics you would like me to focus on in the coming months. Whether its further blogs, opportunities to meet ‘virtually’ to discuss topics or webinars: contact the Future First team below.
