Jenny Bimrose and Alan Brown were invited to make presentations to the Tertiary Education Commission of New Zealand (TEC) at their offices in Wellington on 25th October, 2018. This organisation describes itself as a nexus linking learning and work. They were interested in hearing about:

• How TEC can best serve our labour market needs through good investment in training and education
• The alignment of good information and good career decision making
• Ways of informing and educating learners and their families over a lifetime
• Balancing the employment and socio-economic investment strategies in a way that will address skills mismatches and workforce needs.

Jenny Bimrose and Alan Brown made a formal presentation to about sixty senior TEC employees, followed by two more informal workshops. The three topics on which they spoke were:

• The National Careers Strategy: integrating labour market information (LMI)
• Integrating labour market information more effectively in career practice
• The development of career adaptability in vocational education and training (VET).

Accurate, reliable and up-to-date labour market information (LMI) is acknowledged to be essential for successful individual career transitions for individuals making their way into, and through, the labour market. The LMI for All service has been under development at IER since 2012. Its usage across various established websites is testimony to its efficacy and usefulness. Interest in the portal is significant and growing.

The LMI for All database provides a reliable and up-to-date source of national data and careers labour market information. By using the LMI for All API (application programming interface), there is the potential to provide access to data relevant to all individuals at various stages of their learning and career journey for making career decisions. Find out more about the LMI for All service, who is using it and how to access at the next free webinar on 3 May. To register go to the project website.