What is Labor Market Information (LMI)?
Educators can use LMI to:
- Make informed decisions about course offerings and programs that best support employment success for students.
- Center curriculum development around destinations for learning that include employment success.
- Encourage teaching in context with career-relevant applications of concepts that are aligned with high-value occupations.
- Inform school counselors of local career opportunities to facilitate the development of more effective career plans for students.
- Strengthen reports and grant writing efforts with data that accurately reflects the educational and employment needs of communities.
LMI is typically organized around specific occupation areas or industries. The system most commonly recognized by the US Department of Education is the National Career Cluster Framework. Using this framework, occupations are grouped into sixteen career clusters. Each cluster is defined by a set of industry-validated knowledge and skills that identify what students should obtain to achieve success in a chosen field. Within each of the sixteen clusters, several career pathways (I.e., programs of study) have been developed, which outline sequences of academic, career, and technical courses and training for certain industries or occupations.
Pathway2Careers helps connect educators to the power of labor market information with comprehensive training and professional development experiences. These learning opportunities, designed explicitly for educators, focus on presenting basic content and strategies for use of LMI in educational practices. P2C is committed to providing clear and engaging instructional materials that significantly enhance the use of education focused LMI in local communities.
There are four modules that P2C uses. They are:
Module 1 – The Future of Work
- Factors affecting today’s jobs
- The need for a skilled workforce
- Shifting skill demands
- Problems and solutions
Module 2 – Using LMI to Connect with the Future of Work
- What is labor market information (LMI)?
- LMI and local high-value careers
- The power of awareness to inform and prepare
- Pathway2Careers overview
Module 3 – Introduction to LMI
- Basic terms and definitions
- Using P2C to identify high-value careers
Module 4 – Incorporating LMI into Educational Processes
- Career exploration
- Career planning
- Policy and practice
Each module is approximately one hour in length and includes access to:
- Online video tutorials – Engaging presentations that introduce LMI concepts and demonstrate use of the P2C system
- Printable guides – Simple, straightforward guides that outline terms, definitions, and application strategies
- Online resource center – Extensive library that includes templates, reports, websites, and tools that support the use of LMI in education
- Assessments – Each module concludes with a learning assessment to evaluate topic completion.
