What do I need to consider when looking at labour market information (LMI)?

As with most statistics, LMI looks at trends and averages. It provides a general guide to jobs and the job market. LMI can help you:

• look at careers in different ways

• consider aspects of jobs which you may not have thought about before

• ask questions

You can use LMI as a tool to help you make decisions about your future (but remember, there are lots of other factors to think about too).

LMI does not tell you what to do. It is not designed to give you a complete picture or a personal view. Remember, there will always be people with different experiences to what the data shows. And a job that is right for you may not work for someone else.

Other things to consider when looking at LMI:

• The labour market changes. This is the most recent data available, but there is a delay between information being collected and processed. Jobs such as social media manager, drone operator or app developer simply did not exist several years ago. New jobs won’t always be reflected in LMI (and future jobs won’t be there at all)

• Numbers are often rounded up or down and are not meant to be precise

• Think about exploring jobs with similar words in the title. You may also want to look at a job family or sector to find similar job roles. This is because the same job can have different names. The official occupational

Northern Ireland Skills Barometer 2023-2033

This report provides an in-depth exploration of the future skills needs for the Northern Ireland economy from 2023-2033. Produced by Ulster University’s Economic Policy Centre (UUEPC), the research examines the current skills gaps, identifies the emerging trends, and predicts potential future gaps over the next decade to 2033. 

Useful websites for Labour Market Information: