Understanding the Significance of Labour Market Information in Career Guidance

1. LABOUR MARKET INFORMATION (LMI) IN CAREER GUIDANCE: PIVOTAL OR PERIPHERAL? Jenny Bimrose Institute for Employment Research University of Warwick Jenny.bimrose@warwick.ac.uk

2. LMI: Pivotal or Peripheral?

3. Labour Markets: dynamic

4. Labour Markets: dual processes

5. Exchange: goods & services

6. Labour markets: equilibrium

7. Labour Markets: disequilibrium

8. Information about Labour Markets • What is it? • What role does it play? LMI

9. Labour Market Information 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?)

10. Labour Market Information • 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.)

11. Information v. Intelligence

12. Role of LMI in Career Guidance?

13. LMI: Pivotal or Peripheral?

14. LMI: Interplay of factors

15. LMI: Pivotal or Peripheral? Because of this complexity: • Role of LMI in career guidance is variable across countries • Even within countries, variations exist across different operational contexts

16. LMI: Country variations

17. LMI: Scotland 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)

18. LMI: Wales 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

19. LMI: Northern Ireland 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

20. England: LMI 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

21. LMI: Practice Implications ‘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.

22. 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

23. OCR endorsement 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

24. LMI: Role in decision-making Traditionally, career decision- making has been regarded as a rational, linear process: • Information gathering • Analysis • Making a choice i.e. the ‘matching approach’ to guidance

25. Matching at the heart? 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.

26. Alternatives to matching Range from: • Unmediated: give clients/students direct access to high quality LMI • Developmental: LMI adapted for different stages • Empowerment: encourage clients/students to use LMI to support a broader process of personal growth • Learning: use LMI for specific purposes (e.g. challenge misconceptions)

27. LMI: research evidence? 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

28. LMI: research evidence 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?

29. LMI: career practice 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);

30. LMI: Clients • 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)

31. LMI: challenges • 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)

32. LMI: Pivotal or Peripheral? Pivotal! • Key differentiator: • makes career guidance distinct from other helping professions