Edinburgh Napier University

  The success of Labour Market Intelligence (LMI) for forecasting is predicated on accurate, reliable, robust, and accessible data that underpins the decision-making process. Developing, processing and maintaining vast quantities of often unstructured data is extremely difficult. The launch of SDS’s LMI system for staff in 2010 demonstrated the demand for web-based labour market reports and commentary.

Artificial Intelligence provides a host of exciting opportunities in reliable forecasting through the employment of statistical methods to derive reliable, explainable information from this complex data.

The proposed research focuses on applying novel and explainable AI approaches to enhance the current provision of LMI, with a particular reference to skills planning, forecasting and investment in training provision.

In the initial stages of the research, identification of existing and potential applications of machine learning to enhance LMI will be explored, Thereafter, identification of suitable data sources for predictive purposes will be investigated, drawing upon existing SDS data. The development of novel machine learning models will represent a move towards more dynamic forecasting capabilities that will be evaluated through explainable machine learning approaches.