Real-Time Hits the Big Time: How LMI Will Never Be the Same
Imagine this... You work as an analyst for a government agency and your boss reports to the governor of your state every week about the trends that impact your quality of life. Your statistics and reports, with their wonderful bar graphs and tables, are all derived from labor market information that is, at best, a month or two old, and in a worst case scenario could be much older. Your goal is to forecast trends from this data and cross your fingers that your trends are correct. If your trends are not correct, well, that takes you down a road that few analysts wish to take.
Does this sound familiar? If you're a state analyst, it probably does.
Geographic Solutions listens to analysts. Our popular LMI sites are nationally recognized for merging divergent data resources and providing the most up-to-date information to the states and entities that need them. Often our hands are tied, as we are also dependent on the availability of data at the same speed as the analysts we serve.
Recently, Geographic Solutions has taken LMI to a truly revolutionary level. Last summer, we introduced the new America's Labor Market Analysis system (ALMA). This site merges data from many states and regions into a national site. Here, analysts can review Area, Industry, and Occupation Profiles, and a wealth of other information, on a national scale. Our new focus, however, is providing data faster than ever before. This brings us to the term Real Time LMI.
Real Time LMI is providing survey data for the most current time period available. For some data, this could be weekly, or even daily. The survey data could be from a number of different resources that Geographic Solutions has available, but no matter the resource, these alternative forms of labor market information will be available to analysts almost as they happen. This will add another dimension to the traditional resources, allowing forecasted trends to be much more accurate. On the ALMA site, analysts can currently access a new category that defines Real Time LMI: Advertised Job Data.
Advertised Job Data is different from the Profile and Comparison categories that analysts are acquainted with. Advertised Job Data is actually a new frontier in labor market information dissemination. This category provides jobs data on a national scale in real time based on job spidering technology. This means that information gleaned on a national level from job banks will be based on current real jobs, not just job information that is several months old. Real Time data collected by Geographic Solutions, and on a national scale, brings up-to-the-minute information to the analyst.
Advertised Job Data Categories from the ALMA site
Advertised Job Data allows analysts to review the following information on the ALMA site. Each category allows individuals to select the state(s) they wish to review, the geographic area within a state, a time period, and a specific topic (i.e., occupation or industry). Analysts can even review the actual job postings that comprise the survey data for the category:
Wage Rates - Analysts can select a region and a time period to view real time information on occupations and their current advertised wage rates. Information available includes the total number of job orders for which the information is based, and entry level, mean, median, and experienced wage rates based on the industry selected.
Jobs by Area - Analysts can review the top jobs and job trends by a specific area. Information available includes the total number of job openings in the survey for that area, and the average wage.
Jobs by Industry - Analysts can select an industry by NAICS code and review current job information on that industry. Information available includes the total number of job postings in the survey for that industry, and the average wage. Find out in real time which industries are successfully recruiting new candidates, and which ones are not.
Jobs by Occupation - If an analysis is important for an O*NET occupation in real time, select this category to find the popular current occupations based on job data. Information available includes the total number of job postings in the survey for that occupation and the mean wage.
Job Education Requirements - Analysts can determine the type of educational requirements that employers are currently requesting. How many high school graduates are being hired for chef jobs? This category may disclose that type of information. Information available includes the educational level, the number of job postings that requested that educational level, and the mean wage.
Job Experience Requirements - Analysts can also determine the type of job experience that employers are asking for. Are they hiring individuals who are perhaps over-qualified for a position, or are they hiring individuals that may be under-qualified? Information available includes the job experience level, the number of job postings that requested that experience level, and the mean wage.
Coupled with this information are ALMA's superior Microsoft Silverlight graphs and maps, which allow the data to come alive. Review a state, or multiple states, and job market trends may wash over state lines and regional boundaries. Silverlight graphing and mapping will add a multi-dimensional look to how an analyst views labor market information.
The importance of real time information, especially pertaining to jobs, could never be more crucial than it is today. The current recession and its unparalleled double-digit unemployment rates have forced government agencies to evaluate employment information as soon as it becomes available. The reliance on information from traditional LMI sources, such as local area unemployment statistics, or the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, may be too little too late as states attempt to struggle with reversing trends and assisting people with employment. Job data, collected in real time from actual job order information, could provide the answers necessary to understand unemployment problems and potentially reverse them.
The impact of real time LMI, especially in Geographic Solutions' ALMA site, proposes to revolutionize labor market analysis as we know it by:
- Using information on reliable sources, such as job orders, to provide current trends as they happen, i.e., "real time";
- Providing information across state lines and geographic regions and into a national arena;
- Allowing job information to be created using Microsoft Silverlight graphs and maps for full analytical visualization.
In the future, Real Time data may incorporate such topics as analyzing resumes. The list is potentially endless as long as the data can be acquired and viewed. The audience that the ALMA site attracts may also supersede analysts. Marketing professionals, educators, and even historians may find information in real time to be useful for their needs. All data collected will not be deleted. It will be collected over time so that historical trends can also be reviewed.
Analysts don't be too concerned. The way you're used to doing things, utilizing governmental resources, will always be there. However, with the new ALMA site from Geographic Solutions, the revolution in LMI has just begun.