Illustrating the application of a skills taxonomy, machine learning and online data to inform career and training decisions

What is it about?

Rapid changes in the labour market created by technology developments require workers, educators and employers to keep up to date with emerging employment opportunities and skills needs. This paper illustrates how skills taxonomies (agreed upon labels and descriptions for skills), combined with machine learning can be used to join up big datasets (job ads, course descriptions, CVs) to reveal individual skills gaps, updates needed to training courses or efficient career transitions. We illustrate this potential using three occupations as examples, two which are experiencing growing demand (Registered Nurses and Welfare Support Workers) and another where demand has been declining (Personal Assistants).

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