An Introduction to Emsi API

API stands for “application programming interface.” Unless you work in IT, that may sound like gibberish, but it could be exactly the solution you’re looking for. That’s because APIs are a powerful, flexible way to get relevant data to your stakeholders at the point of decision.

To help explain this concept, we sat down with Gresham Schlect, Emsi’s executive vice president for application development. 

Schlect works with Emsi’s labor market data APIs on a daily basis to build tools that serve clients in higher education, economic and workforce development, and private enterprise. In this video, he shares how organizations can benefit by accessing this data directly and using it to create their own customized solutions:

Putting the data into action

Wondering what you can achieve with an Emsi API? A broad spectrum of organizations are already using our data to further their mission. Here are a few examples: 

• Colleges and universities are helping current and prospective students make informed decisions by embedding relevant career data directly onto their program pages. 

• Economic developers are driving prosperity by showcasing their region’s skilled workforce availability and growing industry clusters. 

• Workforce developers are becoming the go-to resource for job seekers by providing up-to-date career, job posting, and wage data for their region.

• Businesses are leveraging Emsi’s granular, real-time labor market data to power their people analytics, do competitive analysis, and make strategic decisions about compensation, site selection, and more.

Getting started

Part of what makes APIs so valuable is that data is delivered raw, without any pre-built graphical interface. This means you have tremendous flexibility with regard to how and where you display the data. 

It also means that a bit of technical expertise is required to work with the data. For example, you’ll want a developer on your team who is familiar with HTTP and JSON.

To support your technical staff and facilitate a smooth implementation process, we provide a robust documentation site, complete with code samples to help you get up and running. That site is also where you can browse all available APIs, and see what filters and metrics they include. 

Check out the video below for a quick tour of the site and its features.

Popular APIs

Some of our most popular APIs include:

Skills Classification – This FREE API provides access to our complete skills library, including each skill’s type and unique identifier. Learn more about Emsi’s open skills project and try out the skill-tagging prototype at https://skills.emsidata.com/

Job Postings – This API delivers detailed job postings data, including in-demand skills, job titles, company names, posting intensity, and more. Postings can be filtered, sorted, and ranked by various metrics for deeper analysis.

Core Labor Market Information (LMI) – Get access to Emsi’s comprehensive labor market information, including data on industries, occupations, wages, educational completions, and much more. As with our other APIs, a variety of filters are available to help you refine your search and get the insight you need.

Visit economicmodeling.com/apis to learn more, or visit our documentation site to see what data is available.  If you have questions or would like to explore how our data can work for you, please contact us.