Summary of Key Themes

This chapter pulls together the essential labour market themes woven throughout the previous chapters and presents them in one place, in an easy-to-use format. Following each theme is a brief explanation for practitioners. The shaded textboxes contain tips for practitioners to pass on to their clients.

A. Emerging Themes in the New Labour Market

Theme 1: All the Components Making Up the Labour Market Affect One Bottom Line for the Client - Supply and Demand

A good, solid knowledge of all the factors influencing the labour market is an asset to any member of the labour force. However, basic information on supply and demand is probably the bottom line affecting the client or student's position in the labour market. It is helpful to know whether the market is already, or soon to be, flooded with qualified people in a selected occupation or whether there is a present or upcoming shortage of particular workers. It is also increasingly important to be aware of specific skill sets that businesses and industries are demanding and to be prepared to add them to a repertoire.

Tips/Research Suggestions Use information sources to gather supply and demand information before making decisions. These sources could include: the education or training institution being considered; the regional economist publications or Job Futures; unions and associations; human resources personnel in local companies or in the location you would like to work; employment/career counsellors; local service groups willing to share information on the occupations of their members; Chambers of Commerce; and work force members, such as neighbours, friends, family members or any acquaintances they can refer you to for information.

Theme 2: Sources of Information Are Everywhere. Only a Lack of Creative Investigation Limits the Number of Sources

There is an abundance of reports and books, associations, community and government offices, support groups, steering committees and so on, that provide valuable information helpful to a client or student who is making career choices.

An often overlooked resource is an annual report. It can list companies, government agencies and contact people with labour market information useful to a practitioner and client or student, and often includes reports on new trends that are influencing an industry or the people who work in it. Comments may also be made regarding the relevance of training being provided in a certain field.

Some national and provincial sources of information and the type of information they provide appear in Appendix A.

Tips/Research Suggestions Ask, ask, ask! Don't be afraid to ask anyone for help or suggestions. Ask your neighbours, former teachers, association receptionists, relatives and anyone you meet on the job, e.g., the TV repairer or computer technician who installs your printer. Always ask the person who gives you some information for another name for you to contact.

Theme 3: Using Labour Market Information in Career Planning Is a Process that Has to Be Learned and Practised

Clients or students need to learn which questions will give them useful labour market information. They need to practise until the questions come automatically, and they need to learn where to get answers to those questions. In Chapter 5, some simple questions for those wanting to gather labour market information were suggested.

• Does the present situation represent the future situation?
• What predictions are reliable?
• Where can I find further information to support or refute these predictions?
• Is a particular article biased to make an argument for a lobby group?
• How will consumer behaviour affect opportunities?
• What public policies will impinge on this career path?
• How many workers are already in this field?
• How many new workers will be needed in the future?
• How will technology change the industry?
• What is the next most likely position to move into?
• Is this occupation mobile across the country?
• From which training programs do employers prefer to hire?

Some of the above questions were taken from Ettinger and Alfred (1991) and (1992).

Tips/Research Suggestions Read the business section of the newspaper. Practise asking labour market questions about what you read. Study the want ads and ask yourself what you can learn from the job descriptions, the salaries, etc. Check your interpretations with your friends or people in the business. Watch for help wanted signs in store windows, closing announcements in the local paper and see if you can identify a pattern of sales or services that are booming or waning. Ask yourself if there is a product or service that could piggyback on these local trends.

Theme 4: Technology Has an Impact on Virtually Every Occupation and on the Training and Education Any Member of the Labour Force Will Have

This theme encompasses two areas of labour. First, technology affects training and education of workers in general. There is a constant call for more highly skilled employees in industry. Human resource reports beg for workers who are better trained in math, science and technology in order to keep up with new developments in a field.

Tips/Research Suggestions Check first with employers or associations and unions for what high-tech skills are in demand and what advanced equipment is being used, and then make sure the training program or institution you choose is up-to-date enough to give you these skills and knowledge.

Second, technology will impose on managers as well as other workers. They will have to broaden their knowledge base to deal with new developments, new problems, a new breed of clients and employees with more techno-knowledge.

Tips/Research Suggestions Take note of what to train in, if you want to be an effective supervisor in the new economy. No matter what your technical expertise, study management skills. No matter what your management expertise, study technological developments.