Why is it relevant to you?

21st February 2023

You may have heard the term Labour Market Information and either thought, ‘what is that?’ or quite possibly, ‘What’s that go to do with me?

It’s not the most exciting of terms, we agree, but we thought it would be useful to explain exactly what it is, why it’s important and why you need to be looking at it in reference to any career you are considering.

Stop reading for one second and take a look at our eCLips resource. Click on to a job profile you are interested in and after reading the description of the role, click on Labour Market Information on the left hand side. You will be faced with a series of data about that role. Let’s take each in turn:

Average salary

Salary, although maybe not the most important reason for picking a career should be taken into account, especially if you are aspiring to a certain level of lifestyle or financial security is very important to you. The median salary across all occupations in 2022 was £33,000 so that will give you a good benchmark to measure against. It’s also worth bearing in mind that salary isn’t the only way firms compensate you for your work. Take a look at live jobs on Indeed.com and you will see that holiday, contributory pension, discounts, bonuses, share equity and private health can also be common in certain roles.

Average Weekly Hours

The average hours worked across all sectors is 40 and this will be the norm, but some jobs will expect you to work longer hours during busier times which you may be able to claim as 'time in lieu'. Perhaps more important to consider is when you would need to work those hours – is it 9-5, shift work, evening and/or weekends? How would you feel about that? Think ahead to the rest of your life – if you want a family for example, how are your working hours going to impact you? Is there an option to pivot into a more traditional working pattern later on?

Gender Split

This is a stat which can give you an insight into how those in these roles broadly split into men and women. Our advice is not to be put off if your gender is in the minority as it can be an advantage if the profession is actively looking to redress the balance.

Employment Status

This gives you an idea of how likely the work is to be full-time vs part-time and what the opportunity is to be self-employed. Many people like to combine careers these days or make time for family commitments so more part-time opportunities could be attractive. The self-employment statistic also helps show whether you may have to work freelance on a contract basis, which could be more financially unstable and reliant on networking skills.

Unemployment

This chart indicates the growth or decrease in employment relative to the previous year. At the moment this stat is 2019 vs 2020 so is skewed, depending on the sector, as the Covid factor is still present. A better analysis to look at is ‘Predicted Employment’ (see below).

What Industries are the jobs in?

This can give insight into all the industries that offer this job, and it can be surprising. The greater the scope the more chance you will have of either becoming an expert in that industry (as others are more likely to move around), or you may decide you would like the variety of many industries over your working life, which means your job role can also evolve into other areas.

Employment By Region

Where do you think you would like to work? Are you prepared to move away from the area you were brought up or do you want to stay close to family and friends? This chart will help you to see where the opportunities are which you can then cross reference with live jobs to see what kinds of employers there are across the different regions. Be prepared for many jobs to be concentrated in London, but of course you could commute.

Predicted Future Employment

This is an important chart to understand, especially if you will be studying for a few years before entering the workforce. Is this sector growing or does it look like it could be in decline? Obviously you want to give yourself the best chance of success and progression so take a look at related careers to see if there’s a role which is more promising in terms of demand. If it’s growing it’s quite possible there will be many jobs invented that don’t exist at the moment (particularly relevant where tech is a dominant force) which you could look to study in anticipation for (e.g. AI).

Most Desirable Skills

These have been collated from job descriptions and is a useful tool to assess your own skills against and determine which may need more development. Take a look at our Transferable Skills section to learn more about these skills and how to hone them.

Overall, LMI as a crucial aspect of your career research and one that you should be mindful of as you progress through your career. Take a look at our portal section on LMI for further information and resources.