Needs and Uses of LMI: Individuals, Intermediaries, Employers

Sharing Results, Expanding Understanding

Presented by:

Michel Turcotte,Career Counsellor, Psychologist

michel.turcotte@hrsdc-rhdsc.gc.ca

IAEVG – Finland -- June 2009

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Purpose of Surveys

Identify actual needs and uses of LMI for specific purposes Individuals: Work and Education Transitions (7) Intermediaries: Human resources and career and employment

counselling services Employers: Recruitment, retention, or training/career

development Inform policy and service delivery options Identify gaps in LMI data, products and services Gain understanding of LMI context & use

Sources of surveys: Human Resources and Skills Development Canada

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Definition of LMI

Occupational, industrial, learning and community information used by workers to search for work, explore career options or to devise a learning plan related to work or by employers to recruit, train and retain staff.

Also includes information on employers, labour market

conditions, pay potential, skill requirements, job prospects, training and its financing, job search tools etc.

Individuals Use of LMI

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1/3 Adult Canadians experienced work and/or education transition within previous 3 years

Work Transitions School to work Home/Unemployment to work Change in field of work Change in working level (low to higher)

Education Transitions Work to School Home/unemployment to school Change in education level

87% of transition-makers sought LMI

Education Transition

8%Work

Transition20%

Adult Population

72%

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Types of LMI Used

• Employers / Labour market conditions (most)

• Skill requirements (most)

• Job prospects (most)

• Training, studies and financing

• Planning tools, job search tools

• General information – (least)

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Ease of Finding and Using LMI

17% stated it was difficult to find LMI

12% reported difficulty understanding

and using LMI (home/unemployment to school transition-makers found it most difficult)

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Sources of Information – Categories (unprompted)

1. Formal In Person

2. Informal Contacts

3. Public Events

4. Info Products

5. Education Network

6. Employment Agencies, Clubs & Ads

7. Guidance Counsellors

8. Mass Media

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LMI Assistance/Counseling

˜Nearly 40% of transition-makers did get any assistance in finding/using LMI; Work transition-makers less likely to use assistance finding LMI than Education transition-makers

31% would have liked more assistance in finding/using LMI

27% would pay a reasonable fee to learn how to find/use LMI

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Sources of Advice/ Counseling Used

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Friends (27%)

Relatives (25%)

School Counselor (23%)

Employees of PotentialEmployers (19%)

Professional Counselors (11%)

Employment Centre/Agency(11%)

Work Transitions: used mostly informal, friends/relatives, other employees; Education Transitions: used mainly professional and school counselors

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Opportunities for ImprovingInformation Categories:

The following LMI categories were sought more often,

but found to be less useful:

Info on Employers (both for work and education transition-makers)

Info on Skill Requirements (especially for education transition-makers)

Info on Job Prospects (especially for education transition-makers)

Intermediaries: Career Development Specialists

Use of LMI

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Who Responded? (N= 600)

Employment Counsellor (29%) Guidance Counsellor (12%) Career Counsellor (12%) Manager (11%) Career Practitionner (10%)

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Background

Formal Education Bachelor (36%) Master (33%) Professional degree (5%) College (11%) Some College/University

(7%)

Field of Study Counselling (34%) Career Development (33%) Education (26%) Psychology (21%) Business Administ(18%) Sociology (13%) Human Resources (12%) Social Work (11%) Other (23%)

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Where do they Work with Whom

Work Setting Employment Assistance

(37%) Government (23%) College/University (17%) High School (7%) Private (3%)

Primary Client Group Unemployed/Job Seekers

(58%) Students (29%) New Immigrants (13%) Youth (13%) Employed/Staff (10%) Employers (9%) Person with Disabilities (7%)

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Tasks Supported by LMI

Advise on job search (76%) Identify employment opportunities (69%) Counsel on job search (65%) Research/analysis of LMI (40%) Training (35%) Job placement (23%) Facilitate job/career fairs (13%) Facilitate job finding clubs (13%)

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Types of LMI Used

Job Descriptions (90%) Career exploration tools (80%) Wages rates and benefits (73%) Training/educational programs (71%) Job search tools (69%) Job vacancies (64%) Projected shortages and surplus (61%) Lists of employers (60%) Licensing/credentials requirements (50%)

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Primary Sources

Federal employment services (HRSDC) (43%)

Provincial/territorial governments (20%) Educational Institutions (6%) Other (8%)

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Ability/difficulty to Find LMI

Do you know where to look for LMI? Yes: 89% Do you have difficulty to find the LMI? Yes: 30% In which areas?

– Projected shortages and surplus (38%)– Wages and Benefits (36%)– List of employers (34%)– Job descriptions (33%)– Training/educational programs (30%– Career exploration tools (30%)– Job vacancies (24%)

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Importance of Geography

Local information (94%) Provincial/territorial (87%) National (47%)

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Types of Barriers Faced in Using LMI

Lack of relevance information (40%) Difficulty to find information (30%) Difficulty in applying info (25%) No barriers (23%) Not knowing the infor exist (20%) Difficulty to understand data (15%) Difficulty with terminology (8%) Difficulty with technology (3%

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Type of Assistance Required

Finding the appropriate information (60%) Applying the information (50%) Interpreting the information (38%)

Did you get assistance from outside your organization?

42 % said Yes

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Keeping Up to Date with LMI

They use a wide variety of methods for monitoring the labour market; Government publications, contacts and websites were the most used sources.

Perceived level of expertise with various LMI competencies: Although they felt they were experts or competent using most of the LMI related competencies, they also stated a strong interest in getting more training in them.

Most respondents stated they learned how to find, interpret, and apply LMI on their own or through interactions with others. Less than a third stated it was part of their post secondary training.

They stated a very strong interest in training to enhance their LMI related skills.

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Small-Medium Employers (SME) Survey (2006)

andMedium-Large Employers (MLE)

Survey (2007-2008)

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Use of LMI by HR Task

SME MLE

Recruiting and hiring of employees 37% 61%

Retention 41% 55%

Training and career development 47% 55%

Note: LMI used came from external sources

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Type of LMI Used

Purpose Examples of Information Needs

Human Resource Planning

Occupation descriptions, employment standards, skills profiles, licence requirements and regulations, availability of workers, general trends and forecasts

Recruitment Wages/working conditions, availability of workers, training/education institutions, legal requirements, licensing, job banks/labour exchange

Training and Development

Occupational descriptions, skill profiles, training options (in-house, on-the-job, mentoring, classroom)

Retention Career paths, competitive wages, working conditions, worker benefits, management practices, work-life balance

Business Decisions Availability of workers and skills, wages

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Importance of Geography

Providing specific, detailed LMI at the local level improves the applicability and usefulness for employers for recruitment, training, and retention.

– SME's and MLE's place very similar importance on having locally-based LMI

86-95% stated it as ‘important’ to ‘very important’ depending on HR activity

MLE's more inclined to use regionally- and nationally-based information

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SME: Assistance with LMI

About 1/3 of LMI users received help in finding, interpreting or applying LMI

Sources of assistance included: HR consultants, business colleagues, government, local

business association and colleges/universities

Even more said they would have benefited from assistance with their HR activity:

Recruiting: 52% Training: 68% Retention: 60%

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MLE Assistance with LMI

External assistance used for locating, assessing or interpreting LMI for HR activities, ranged from 27%-35%

Government 2nd source cited for Recruitment, overall not used as top source of LMI Assistance

Professional Associations used more than Sectoral Associations

HR/Career Development Consultants top source of assistance for 2 out of 3 HR activities

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Usefulness of LMI

SME High degree of satisfaction with

LMI usefulness Those that obtained assistance

from a government office or website were more likely to consider the LMI to be very useful than those using other sources

LMI was ‘somewhat’ or ‘very useful’ for:

Recruitment: 86% Training:91% Retention: 87%

MLEHigh degree of satisfaction with LMI usefulness

Slightly more likely to indicate LMI to be very useful compared to SME

LMI was ‘somewhat’ or ‘very useful’ for:

• Recruitment: 92% • Training:97% • Retention: 96%

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MLE: Influence of LMI on Business Decisions

56%

11%

27%

6%

No extent (1-2)Some extent (3-5)Great extent (6-7)DK/NR

“To what extent does information on the availability of workers and skills, or wages for example, influence business decisions, such as whether to expand,

relocate, outsource, or invest in skills development, or technology?”

n=1321

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Summary

Employers seek value added information (e.g. trends, forecasts) more than statistics

Employers significantly use assistance in finding, interpreting, and applying LMI

High importance placed on locally-based LMI

Increased detail and specificity desired

Federal government an important source for MLE, but other sources used more extensively than SME

Employers sought LMI and assistance from professional (occupational) associations more than industry associations

Since governments are already a significant source, increased government engagement with intermediaries could expand reach, use, and usefulness of LMI