LMI for All: Technical requirements, stakeholder engagement and data development services
Important information about the closure of LMI for All
At the end of 2024 the data available from LMI for All will no longer be updated. Access to LMI for All, including the API, will continue to be available until the end of October 2025.
For more information click on FAQs.
Whether taking an English perspective, or a European view, 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 web portal has been under development at IER since 2012. An initial feasibility study, followed up with three iterations of pilot studies has established the viability and the need for this innovation. Its usage across various established websites is testimony to its efficacy and usefulness. Interest in the portal is significant and growing.
LMI for All reports
LMI for All was first developed in 2012 and from this time has gone through a process of development with significant enhancements to the database and the technical infrastructure. LMI for All also when through a process of testing in a series of hack days. To find out more about the development have a look at the reports produced documenting the process:
- 2012 Summary report on feasibility study
- 2012-15 Report of development process
- 2015-16 Report on data, technical and stakeholder activities
- 2018 Report on Labour market information for all: stakeholder engagement and usage, data and technical developments, documenting work and activities undertaken in 2016-2017
- Labour market information (LMI) for All 2017 to 2018
- Developing and enhancing a labour market information database: LMI for All Stakeholder Engagement and Usage, Data and Technical Developments (2018-2019)
Aims and objectives
The LMI for All service provides a reliable and up-to-date source of national data and careers LMI. By using the LMI for All API, 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. A key element of continuing the successes of LMI for All is to embed this significant and substantial resource not only through continued efforts in dissemination, but also in active engagement with stakeholders, so that it is understood how the resource can be harnessed and integrated to enhance support to individuals and to broader services to increase the efficacy of individual labour market transitions.
The programme of services to support the delivery of LMI for All comprises three interrelated work streams with their own aims:
Management of technical infrastructure (IT)
- To maintain a secure and robust infrastructure for the data providing an environment that could be extended in the future as new data becomes available and as the number of end-users increases.
- To implement processes to ensure that the data made available to developers and end-users meets required quality standards.
- To provide modern and flexible software tools to allow the querying of the database by external users.
- To provide software tools and spaces for documenting the process and allowing public access to the LMI for All database.
Stakeholder engagement
- To encourage third parties to exploit this free resource by developing applications or enhancing existing applications, to increase the reach of LMI for All among end-users (i.e. individuals making careers decisions).
- To encourage third-parties to implement the LMI for All “widget”.
- To drive end-user traffic to existing applications that offer access to LMI for All data.
- To foster positive and supportive attitudes towards the LMI for All service among key groups, including policymakers.
- To engage with partners who offer applications that draw upon LMI for All with a view to evaluating the service from an end-user perspective.
Data development
- Refreshment of existing data sets held on LMI for All.
- Management of documentation relating to the datasets.
- Quality assurance and checking, including checks to ensure data rendered by the API are consistent with values contained in the dataset generated by the data development team.
- Provision of advice on issues and questions relating to the data, both to UKCES / BIS and to third-parties, as part of customer care support arrangements.
- Contribution to internal data management processes, including liaison with the technical team around documentation and quality assurance of data.
IER Project Team:
Terence Hogarth (Principal Investigator)
Derek Bosworth
Project partners:
Philipp Rustemeier, Pontydysgu
Rolandas Zikis Ziukevicius, Pontydysgu
Project Duration:
October 2018 - October 2024
Project Funder:
Department for Education