Labour market information is an important aspect of career planning because it tells you: 

·         which jobs are in demand now, and which are likely to be in demand in the future

·         the level of demand for workers in different industries and sectors

·         the sorts of skills and qualifications that employers are looking for

·         the differences in demand for workers depending on where you live

·         the levels of earnings for different kinds of work

·         about changes in the working population, for example, the age range of the work force 

·         about changes in patterns of working: full time, part time, short term contracts.

A word of warning! LMI researchers use the information they collect to forecast future trends in the job market. However, these trends can, and do, change. A lot of LMI depends on the state of the national, and global, economy and this can change very quickly – just think what the current 'credit crunch' is doing to the job market worldwide.

Also bear in mind that not all statistics are updated annually, particularly when relating to a specific industry. This means that figures can sometimes be a year or two old.

So, although you should consider LMI when choosing or planning your career, we wouldn’t recommend basing your choice on this information alone.

A lot of labour market information comes from statistical surveys done by economists. They use the results to write LMI reports and forecasts, often for people in industry or government. Not good news for the rest of us, as few of us want to wade through masses of statistics or government reports!

So, we’ve used a wide range of LMI sources to include relevant job market information in our job profiles and career area information – see the Career Zone on PlanIT Plus. However, if you are looking for more detailed information there are a variety of useful sources of LMI – Scottish and UK-wide (see below). 

Useful sources of LMI

• Futureskills Scotland at www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Economy/labour-market (for LMI reports on specific topics, industries and geographical areas)
• Alliance of Sector Skills Councils at http://www.sscalliance.org/ (follow link 'Looking for SSCs' to reach links for individual Sector Skills Councils websites for LMI)
• Higher Education Careers Services Unit (HECSU) 'What do graduates do? UK' at http://www.hecsu.ac.uk/
• Prospects at http://www.prospects.ac.uk/ (graduate career website – for information on graduate destinations)
• Skills Development Scotland at http://www.skillsdevelopmentscotland.co.uk/knowledge.aspx
• Scottish Government (Statistics) at www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Labour-Market (for economic profiles of Scotland including labour market trends)
• ONS – National Statistics Online at http://www.ons.gov.uk/ (for official government statistics)
• NOMIS (National Office of Market Statistics) at http://www.nomisweb.co.uk/ (for official UK government labour market statistics – labour market profiles by geographical area)
• What do graduates do? Scotland at http://www.scottishdegrees.com/ (AGCAS Scotland for information on what happened to leavers from Scottish higher education institutions six months after graduation)