LABOUR MARKET INFORMATION
(LMI) IN CAREER GUIDANCE:
PIVOTAL OR PERIPHERAL?
Jenny Bimrose
Institute for Employment Research
University of Warwick
Jenny.bimrose@warwick.ac.uk
SHIFTING
CONTEXT
CURRENT
STATUS
IMPLICATIONS
Supply
Demand
 What is it?
 What role
does it play?
LMI
DATA about:
 general employment trends
(i.e. unemployment rates; skills gaps; future
demand)
 the structure of the labour market
(i.e. what jobs exist, how many, which sectors)
 the way the labour market functions
(i.e. how people get into jobs & move between
employers)
 focusing on equality and diversity
(i.e. which individuals are employed in different
sectors, at what levels/pay?)



the interaction between labour demand & supply (i.e.
mismatches – unemployment, skill shortages)
national, regional and local labour market variations
(i.e. size of workforce, prominent sectors, etc.)
progression routes
(i.e. career structure, earnings, transferability of
skills, etc.)
LM Information
•Original data from range of sources
LM Intelligence
•Interpretation of LM Information
CLIENT
SOCIETY
Shifting
context
Impact on
practice
•Integration
•CPD
Policy
•Resources
•Focus
ICT
•Client
•Framework
Practice
Because of this complexity:


Role of LMI in career guidance is
variable across countries
Even within countries, variations
exist across different operational
contexts
Scotland
Wales
LMI
NI
England
Increasing competitiveness (The Scottish
Government, 2011):


Career management skills are central
Means enabling individuals to ‘understand
how the labour market works’, through:
 My World of Work (website)
 Scottish Labour Market Information & Intelligence
Framework – plan to identify current provision,
create common understanding & ensure needs met
(Skills Development Scotland, 2012)
The Employability & Skills Division of the Dept.
for Educn. & Skills within the Welsh Government:

Tasked to communicate intelligent & analysed
LM Intelligence to better align supply/demand
 Major review – with services moving into a new
stage of web-development
 LMI (information & intelligence) forms key part of
this strategy
New career strategy noted the importance of
access to LMI for users of the Careers Service
(DEL & DE, 2011).
Website comprises job profiles, links to
employer bodies, JobCentre Online NI, links
to vacancies locally & across Europe
 Access to LMI – enables improved
understanding of education & employment
opportunities

LMI is part of modernising the delivery of
services, with a focus around the skills agenda:
Jobcentre Plus - Transforming Labour Market
Services (TLMS)
 National Careers Service website, with
telephone guidance services – LMI central
 LMI 4 All – UKCES commissioned the
development of a data tool for careers

‘The knowledge and application of CLMI
(career and labour market information)
is a core part of a career professional’s
competencies and central to ensuring
young people and adults are provided
with a high-quality service’.
Reference: Careers Profession Task Force (2010). Towards a strong careers profession: An
independent report to the Department for Education. London: Department for Education.
LMI LEARNING MODULE
Building skills and confidence
using labour market information in practice
Aim:
To support the learning of
career professionals to
increase their effectiveness
in using LMI in practice
Explores:
 Why we need LMI in careers
 Sources of LMI – locating
and evaluating sources
 How to use LMI effectively
 Key trends and what it
means for careers guidance
www.warwick.ac.uk/go/ngrf/lmimodule
For the following OCR units:

OCR Level 4 Diploma in Career Information and
Advice (04512)
◦ Level 4 Unit 11 Source, evaluate and use LMI with clients
◦ Level 4 Unit 16 Obtain and organise career-related
information to support clients

OCR Level 6 Diploma in Career Guidance and
Development (10215)
◦ Level 6 Unit 6 Use career and LMI with clients
◦ Level 6 Unit 15 Source, evaluate and use labour market
intelligence with clients
Traditionally, career decisionmaking has been regarded as a
rational, linear process:



Information gathering
Analysis
Making a choice
i.e. the ‘matching approach’ to guidance
Matching assumes a degree
of stability in the labour
market:
‘Trying to place an evolving
person into the
changing work environment ... is
like trying to hit a butterfly with a
boomerang’ (p.263)
Ref: Mitchell, L.K. & Krumboltz, J.D. (1996) ‘Krumboltz’s
learning theory of career choice and counseling’, in Brown,
D., Brooks, L. & Associates (Eds) Career Choice and
Development (3rd Ed), San Francisco, California, Jossey Bass.
Range from:

Unmediated: give clients/students direct

Developmental: LMI adapted for different

Empowerment: encourage clients/students

Learning: use LMI for specific purposes
access to high quality LMI
stages
to use LMI to support a broader process of
personal growth
(e.g. challenge misconceptions)
Most LMI research focuses on usability of
products:
 Readability;
 Accuracy of information;
 Ease of access;
 Amount of use;
 Focused on students, not adults
Ref: Savard, G. & Michaud, M. (2005). The Impact of LMI on the Career
Decision-Making Process: Literature Review. FLMM
Unanswered questions:
 How do individual clients use LMI?


To what extent does assistance by a service
provider enhance the effective use of LMI by
individuals?
To what extent is independent self-help a
sufficient process for clients to use LMI effectively?
Research evidence:


access to expert knowledge & information was
regarded as critical to effective career guidance
(Bimrose et al., 2008);
necessary for career professionals to support
information seeking behaviour (Vilhjálmsdóttir
et al., 2011);





Tailored LMI embedded in a learning process
most powerful
LMI appropriate for client’s specific need (not
general LMI) appears to support engagement &
action
Structure & timelines appear to motivate action
and create a sense of progress
Giving clients hands-on tools appears to be best
motivator
For many, a little (or no) professional support is
adequate
(Ref: Hiebert, B. (2010) Assessing the Impact of LMI: Preliminary
Results of Phase Two (Field Tests). CRWG)








Classification of occupations
Insufficient detail for some occupations
Lack of standardisation of data
Inconsistent data
Insufficient sample sizes
Inability to disaggregate to the required level
Skewed vacancy data
Local LMI (expertise in building employer
networks needs to be re-established)
Pivotal!
 Key
differentiator:
makes career
guidance distinct
from other helping
professions
