Understanding Labor Market Information (LMI) and Online Job Postings in the Community College Pipeline

This resource describes the metrics for labor market information (LMI) and online job postings from Lightcast (formerly Emsi and Burning Glass) data added to the 2020-21 build of the Community College Pipeline dashboard. The two types of information about regional employment are very different and are organized into two separate sections in the left navigation of the Detailed Data View: Labor Market Data and Online Job Postings. Labor Market Data is useful for getting an understanding of trends in employment and earnings over time. Information from online job postings helps to augment the traditional labor market information. As an example, annual openings for occupations mapped to a program is usually the best indicator of labor market demand for a program in a region. The number of job postings for those same occupations in a region should not be used as an indicator of demand for a program in a region. However, there is useful information to be gained from considering the online job postings for the occupations mapped to the program in the region: • Change in postings over time in the region • Top skills requested by regional employers in the region • Top qualifications requested by regional employers in the region • Top employers in the region A crosswalk of TOP (Taxonomy of Programs) codes to SOC codes (Standard Occupational Codes) is necessary in order to display occupations requiring skills that students should acquire as part of the program or TOP code or sector selected.