Mapping a Workforce in Motion

The Lightcast Approach to Taxonomies

The world of work is producing more data than ever before. Taxonomies are how you make sense of it. Understand how they work, and learn why Lightcast is the global leader.

Mapping a Workforce in Motion ebook cover

The Global Standard for Occupations and Skills

Our pioneering, best-in-class taxonomies organize the world’s occupations and skills in order to make that data accessible and useful. Other systems for understanding the workforce are outdated or out of touch, but we understand the relationships between every occupation and every skill, even when they change, so we can deliver reliable answers—fast. We are not merely cataloging the current state of work; we are creating the definitive map of a workforce in constant motion. Organizations around the globe are using this map to align their workforce, their development, and their strategies to the reality of the international labor market.

Clear classification means clear comparison, so that trends and insights are easily understood. The Lightcast Occupation Taxonomy and the Lightcast Skills Taxonomy provide the essential structure and language necessary to translate raw, unorganized data into actionable and meaningful insights.

Imagine putting together a puzzle, but the pieces keep changing shape.

If the relationship between two things keeps shifting, how can you make connections between them? That’s the challenge facing our current global labor market—a complex landscape of skills, occupations, and human potential that is constantly changing.

By using our best-in-class taxonomies to make sense of all this change, the Lightcast Occupation Taxonomy and Lightcast Skills Taxonomy provide the picture on the puzzle box.

Lightcast Occupation Taxonomy

Four Levels of Granularity

Specialized Occupations

1800+

Occupations

800+

Occupation Groups

180+

Career Areas

28

Lightcast Occupation Taxonomy

In a labor market characterized by rapid change and global interconnectedness, Lightcast’s occupational taxonomy emerges as the standard, universally accepted and used. Its unique combination of global reach, granular detail, real-time responsiveness, and mass adoption positions it as an indispensable tool for navigating the modern workforce. 

CheckmarkEach concept has a name, description and information on training requirements
CheckmarkThe hierarchical structure helps identify the link between occupations, zooming in and out as needed
CheckmarkEach layer is matched to the others, without overlap or omissions. For instance, every Occupation appears in only one Occupation Group, which appears in only one Career Area
pyramid gif LOT

Unparalleled Advantages

3 USPs for LOT


Lightcast Skills Taxonomy

The Lightcast Skills Taxonomy delivers clarity by allowing everyone to speak the same language. With a shared vocabulary, we can enable every worker and every job to precisely identify and articulate the supply and demand they offer the labor market. This extensive library catalogs over 33,000 skills and is updated monthly, providing a standardized and universally understood language for describing and analyzing workforce capabilities.

Skills are the Foundation

Each of the over 33,000 skills in our taxonomy offers a map to the workforce future.

the Nursing skill in the Lightcast Skills Taxonomy


Taxonomies Organize Data So You Can Make Better Decisions.

Data is only useful if it's accessible and relevant. While others rely on outdated classifications from 2008 or 2018, the living, breathing taxonomies from Lightcast capture emerging roles in real time around the world, giving forward-thinking organizations the competitive edge they need.

Discover why taxonomies matter—and how they can work for you.
Mapping a Workforce in Motion ebook cover