Simplifying Labor Market Complexity
Lightcast data is global, granular, and responsive. Learn how each element enables better workforce decisions with three use cases, one for each.
The labor market is a vastly complex landscape of information. In recent years, technological disruption, global economic shifts, and rapid innovation have added significantly to this complexity. To make sense of this ever-changing world of work, we need a comprehensive workforce dataset that can simplify this complexity. This dataset needs to be
Global: enabling apples-to-apples comparisons across the world
Granular: capable of identifying precise, specific changes to occupations and skills
Responsive: adapts quickly to reflect real-world changes in the global market
Lightcast meets all three criteria. Our world-class occupation and skills taxonomies have enabled us to develop exactly this type of comprehensive dataset. You can read more about why we've built these taxonomies and how we built them here. But now we want to show you what they enable us to do—and what they can enable you to do. In the page below, we've provided three examples of how Lightcast simplifies labor market complexity.
Your workforce questions don't stop at national boundaries; neither should your data. Using the example of R&D in Advanced Manufacturing, we show how Lightcast enables consistent comparisons worldwide.
Going into the weeds of the Cybersecurity workforce allows us to showcase how our taxonomies can make sense of vast labor market complexity and still identify niche trends and changes.
Using the example of Clean Energy, we show how our regularly updated taxonomies have given us the ability to build a highly fluid and constantly evolving dataset that responds to change far quicker than official taxonomies and datasets.
Lightcast Data is Global.
How our internationally-sourced taxonomies have enabled us to create the world’s most global language of workforce data crossing national boundaries.
R&D in Advanced Manufacturing
Just as today’s interconnected world depends on a common language to communicate across borders, global labor markets need a common language of data to make sense of workforce change and compare trends across countries.
The example below shows how this works in practice. Using the Lightcast Occupation Taxonomy as a common foundation, we identify trends in Advanced Manufacturing Research & Development across ten countries. A truly global taxonomy makes it possible to generate comparable international insights, including:
Chart 1: How occupational demand in the sector has changed over time across countries.
Map: The leading hotspots for employer demand across the ten countries.
Chart 2: The most in-demand occupations in the sector, compared across countries.
Companies thinking about where to locate their next center can use our global data to identify hotspots of workers in their sector across the world.
Universities or Business Schools looking to attract students can use our global data to see where companies are recruiting for these jobs globally.
Public sector and government organizations can use our global data to compare employment in their area to similar areas across the world.
Lightcast Data is Granular.
How our highly detailed taxonomies have helped us build the world’s most granular workforce dataset, making sense of labor market complexity and identifying nuanced trends.
Cybersecurity
Making sense of complex labor markets requires a classification system that can organize vast amounts of data clearly while still allowing users to drill down into fine-grained detail. In other words, it needs to show both the forest and the trees.
The Lightcast Occupation Taxonomy is built to do exactly that, spanning 28 broad Career Areas and 1,800 Specialized Occupations. The Lightcast Skills Taxonomy applies the same principle to skills, organizing more than 34,000 Specific Skills within 30 broad Skills Categories.
The example below brings both taxonomies together to provide a detailed view of the Cybersecurity sector, including:
Chart 1: How official occupation taxonomies compare with the Lightcast Occupation Taxonomy.
Chart 2: The most in-demand skills across the Specialized Occupations identified by our taxonomy.
Chart 3: The leading specialized skills for each of the 12 Cybersecurity Occupations we have identified.
Companies trying to understand how the occupations and skills in their workforce relate to the wider labor market can use our granular data to do this.
Universities or Business Schools can use our granular data to get a better understanding of the roles they should be training for in a given sector.
Public sector and government organizations can use our granular data to get a far richer view of jobs and skills in their area than from official taxonomies.
Lightcast Data is Responsive.
How our regularly updated taxonomies have enabled us to develop the world’s most responsive workforce dataset that responds to change far quicker than official datasets.
Clean Energy
Labor markets are constantly evolving, so any comprehensive language of workforce data needs to evolve with them. While most official occupation taxonomies are updated only once a decade, the Lightcast Occupation Taxonomy is refreshed annually, allowing new and emerging occupations to appear in the data much sooner.
The Lightcast Skills Taxonomy moves faster still, with new skills added every month. Together, the two taxonomies provide a view of the labor market that is genuinely responsive to change.
The example below uses both taxonomies to examine Clean Energy jobs, including:
Chart 1: The fastest-growing common and specialized skills in Clean Energy.
Chart 2: Demand for occupations recently added to the Lightcast Occupation Taxonomy.
Chart 3: The companies driving demand for these emerging Clean Energy occupations.
Companies looking to understand how which skills are emerging in their market and amongst their competitors can do this using our responsive data.
Universities or Business Schools can use our responsive data to identify the emerging workforce skills that they should be incorporating in their courses.
Public sector and government organizations can use our responsive data to create a foundation for reform of the skills system to ensure future needs are met.
Conclusion
With data that's global, granular, and responsive, you have the tools you need to craft better strategies at your organization. These decisions are too important to risk on incomplete information: you need data that works.
Whether your company is deciding where to locate its next operation, understanding how your workforce compares with the wider labor market, or identifying the skills emerging in your industry, Lightcast provides the data and insight to make those decisions with confidence.
Whether your institution is looking to attract more international students, understand which roles it should be preparing learners for, or identify the emerging workforce skills to incorporate into its courses, Lightcast helps institutions plan ahead in a fast-changing labor market.
Whether your organization needs to benchmark its labor market against comparable places around the world, gain more detail on jobs and skills than official taxonomies can provide, or build a skills system on stronger evidence, Lightcast provides the data needed to understand your labor market and plan for what comes next.
Put Lightcast Data To Work For You
Get in touch to see how our global, granular, responsive taxonomies can help your organization succeed in the fast-changing world of work.
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