Labour Market Information
What is LMI?
Labour Market Information (LMI) can provide us with insights into different jobs and opportunities, telling us what is available now or predicted to be in the future. Therefore, it is a fundamentally important tool when researching potential career pathways.
It can be gathered from a wide array of sources from websites run by government funded organisations, to adverts for job vacancies in local papers and online. Even sources such as conversations with friends and family can give us information on who maybe recruiting locally.
However sometimes it is important to ask questions like, “How was the information gathered, when, by whom and for what purpose?” This will affect what the data is attempting to prove (if biased) or what it may mean for you and your career decisions.
For example, if the data was collected five years ago, how reliable is it (not very)? However, if the data was collected last week it is likely to be more reliable.
Tools such as http://www.lmiforall.org.uk/cm2/index.html can help us access basic data on different jobs which, is helpful for a broad picture but very generalised. The pros and cons of this are outlined here:
Be informed
When researching the labour market, it is important to try and use more than one source of information to get the best view as possible. Using more than one source of data increases the odds of accurate outcomes.
Research
Research helps you see what is available in the world of work that you might have the skills and desire to do as a job. It is key to understanding what is going on. It can sometimes be a little tricky though so, remember there are plenty of sources of support to help you with this: parents, carers, teachers, friends and your careers adviser!
Kent
Look at the top jobs in different areas around Kent, plus other useful resources.
London
Labour Market Information for London, split into sectors.