As the market shifts, we must use data to prepare a future-ready workforce.
Today’s global labor market is one of low unemployment and a shortage of much-needed skill sets for many companies. Almost all industries are suffering from a shortage of talent – IT, manufacturing, retail, and even hospitality. This applies to a wide range of roles, whether they be highly skilled IT occupations, skilled trades or jobs focused on manual labor. Unemployment levels remain historically low, while the cost of living is high, leading to higher-than normal wage inflation.
With these current conditions, employers are quickly turning their attention to data in the hopes of solving their workforce challenges. Previously overlooked, labor market data today is regularly dominating the news in North America and the UK. As organizations seek to make more data-driven decisions, global data platforms are of great value to those who know how to utilize them effectively.
Trend: Global Talent Shortages Are Presenting Significant Challenges
One of the key trends we're seeing is that talent pools are shifting across different segments and geographies — making some of the current recruiting assumptions limited in their reach. Company policies like return to office (RTO), remote work or hybrid work can have a meaningful impact on a company’s access to talent — and the nuances of those policies can be the difference between finding candidates (or not).
Take a search for a ‘Project Manager’ in London. A search typically starts in that metropolitan area and accessible suburbs. For London, like most areas, demand has fallen sharply over the year, and the estimated size of this workforce is 48,000 with a median advertised salary of £46,000. If the hiring organization has a hybrid work policy requiring just one in-office day per week, this search area can be dramatically expanded to any area accessible in a reasonable commuting distance.
Case Study: Exploring Emerging IT Markets in India
Over the past decade, India’s IT sector has experienced significant growth, largely driven by outsourcing and increased demand from global companies. This surge in demand has led to an expansion of the workforce, with more professionals entering the IT industry. However, demand has outpaced supply in Tier 1 markets such Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune, resulting in escalating operating costs, with wages increasing on average by 10% per year over the last five years.
Businesses are now looking to emerging tech hubs such as Coimbatore, Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Thiruvananthapuram, attracted by their growing talent pools, lower costs and rapid government investment. With as many as 25 emerging IT hubs in India to choose from, AGS has leveraged Lightcast’s global data and examined 10 Tier 2 locations that could serve as new sourcing grounds for highly skilled IT talent.
"Our decision to lean on Lightcast insights, compared to other competitor products, stems from their ability to provide global consistency in data, which is particularly crucial in navigating diverse standards across countries. Lightcast’s Occupation Taxonomy seamlessly aligns disparate job titles and classifications, ensuring a unified approach to global data analysis."
The Need for Global Data in a Fast-Changing Labor Market
In this report, Allegis and Lightcast combine forces to look at the most competitive markets suffering from wage pressure, and define which skill sets are most in demand— plus where best to find them. Trends are discussed, and case studies recount how AGS used Lightcast data to overcome obstacles. These insights can help ensure managers get better access to talent while efficiently managing costs.
