Guide


Guide

Labour market information (LMI) is information concerning the conditions in, and the operations of, the market for labour. The labour market – like other markets – can be described in terms of supply and demand components. The supply side primarily refers to the number of potential workers and their characteristics whereas the demand side refers to employers' staffing requirements. In the labour market, labour services are exchanged and it is the interaction of the workers and firms that determines, in part, the price of labour, the number of workers employed, and the working conditions attached to employment such as the work schedule and specific duties.

This Guide is designed to make the important world of LMI more understandable and accessible. In particular, it:

  • Describes how labour markets work;
  • Presents key labour market definitions and calculations;
  • Provides a brief background on interpreting labour market statistics;
  • Discusses some key LMI data sources; and
  • Highlights the major classification systems used in Canada for organizing employment data by occupation and industry.

This Guide should be particularly useful to: job seekers, students, guidance counsellors, corporate trainers, human resource professionals, community agencies, and Local Boards of Ontario.

The Guide is available for download, below: